BOSTON Two men were arrested for allegedly trafficking nearly seven kilos of cocaine that were sent from the Dominican Republic to Boston on a commercial airline.
Juan Luis Perez Garcia, 44, a Dominican national residing in Bronx, N.Y., and Juan Artiles Taveras, 43, of Lakewood, N.J., were arrested Friday, June 2, 2017, in Attleboro, Mass., and charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.
According to court documents, a cooperating witness (CW) worked with investigators to identify members of a narcotics organization based in the Dominican Republic. At a meeting in the Dominican Republic in June 2015, the CW and an undercover officer learned that one of the members of the narcotics organization had contacts who could put drugs on JetBlue flights destined for the United States, but who needed assistance in Boston taking the drugs off the plane. The CW responded that he worked at the airport in Boston and could get the drugs off the aircraft without having them discovered. In July 2015, another member of the drug organization told the CW that he had the ability to smuggle contraband into the United States from the Dominican Republic via JetBlue commercial flights.
It is alleged that in February 2016, the CW spoke with Perez Garcia about arranging for cocaine to be put on a plane in the Dominican Republic for delivery to the CW in Boston. On June 2, 2017, arrangements were allegedly made for a suitcase containing cocaine to arrive on a JetBlue flight from the Dominican Republic to Boston. When the flight arrived in Boston, federal agents intercepted the suitcase and field-tested its contents which yielded a positive result for cocaine and weighed nearly seven kilos. On the evening of June 2, 2017, Perez Garcia and Artiles Taveras met the CW and undercover officer at a parking lot in Attleboro, Mass., to exchange money for the drugs. Federal agents placed the two men under arrest.
The charging statute for possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to a lifetime in prison, up to five years of supervised release and a fine of $10 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Matthew J. Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Stephen A. Marks, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Assistance was provided by Customs and Border Protection and the Attleboro Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney David G. Tobin of Weinrebs Major Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
--DOJ District of Massachusetts
Source: U.S. Secret Service