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Four Colombians Plead Guilty In Cocaine Smuggling Case

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 13, 2009

TAMPA - Four Colombians pleaded guilty today to conspiring to smuggle 3,894 pounds of cocaine into the United States on a go-fast boat that was apprehended in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The men face up to life in prison, with a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years.

Manuel Ricardo Ortiz-Rengifo, 24; Marco Antonio Villalba, 26; Jhon Jairo Badillo Abadia, 27; and Alejandro Rengifo Valenteria, 30, entered their pleas before U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun, III.

They will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington after a pre-sentence report is compiled. That usually takes a couple of months.

Badillo Abadia and Rengifo Valenteria also pleaded guilty to possessing the cocaine with the intent to distribute it. That charge carries and identical penalty to the conspiracy count.

"Each of you is going to receive a very lengthy prison sentence," McCoun said.Ortiz-Rengifo and Villalba entered into plea agreement with prosecutors so they could avoid possession charges. The agreement also calls for both men to cooperate with authorities. The extent of that cooperation could reduce their sentence below the 10-year minimum.

A helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Midgett's Hitron discovered the boat Oct. 16 heading north about 25 nautical miles from Colombia. The crew observed bales and extra barrels of fuel on deck.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Miller said the crew started throwing the bales off the boat, but guardsmen marked their location with buoys.

The cutter moved to intercept the go-fast boat, according to the prosecutor, but the Colombians refused to stop. He said the cutter fired three disabling shots at the boat before a final shell halted it.

The crew refused to say who owned the boat and it carried no registration papers. The Coast Guardsmen determined the boat was a hazard to navigation and sunk it.

The guardsmen recovered 78 bales of cocaine that weighed about 1,770 kilograms or 3,894 pounds.

Another crew member, William Rengifo Orobio pleaded guilty in December and is scheduled to be sentenced by Covington Feb. 24.

Miller said the arrests were part of Operation Panama Express, which targets Colombian drug smuggling operations. It is a multi-agency task force of about 80 state, local and federal agents and analysts overseen by the U.S. Attorneys office in Tampa.

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 259-7698.

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