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6 Sentenced In Bust Of Cocaine Ship Out Of Honduras
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Published: August 21, 2008
TAMPA - Six crew members of a narcotics smuggling vessel encountered in the Caribbean this year as part of Operation Panama Express were sentenced this month to terms of imprisonment ranging from eight to 14 years, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
According to the release:
The crew members smuggled 1,291 pounds of cocaine with a street value exceeding $17 million.
On Feb. 22, the Coast Guard cutter Dauntless encountered the Miss Alyssa, a 78-foot fishing vessel out of Honduras, about 150 miles north of Sanblas, Panama. The Miss Alyssa was traveling from Cartagena, Colombia, to an unknown location off Honduras. During boarding of the vessel, Coast Guard and other law enforcement officers found about 30 bales of cocaine in a fuel tank.
Three Colombian nationals, Julio Cesar Ortega-Perez, 33, Jose Domitilo, 36, and Julio Telles-Milton, 54, and four Honduran nationals, Harry Elmer Rich-Hernandez, 32, Hector Oscar Bernadez-Rochez, 39, Julio Jose Matute-Solis, 49, and Edgardo Francisco Martinez-Castillo, 35, were arrested and brought to the United States for prosecution.
They all pleaded guilty to drug charges in May.
On Aug. 8, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday sentenced Domitilo to nine years in prison. On Aug. 14, Merryday sentenced Telles-Milton to 11 years and three months in prison, Martinez-Castillo to 14 years in prison, Bernadez-Rochez to 11 years and three months in prison, Rich-Hernandez to 11 years and three months in prison, and Matute-Solis to eight years and one month in prison.Ortega-Perez will be sentenced Sept. 29.
Panama Express Strike Force North is a federally approved Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force consisting of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Coast Guard, Internal Revenue Service, FBI, Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Operation Panama Express North targets Colombian maritime cocaine smuggling organizations.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffery Downing.
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