United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEW YORK CITY - Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Jose Luis Tejada Aybar was sentenced yesterday to 150 months in prison for operating the Cab Louie Delivery Service, an on-demand drug courier service that delivered fentanyl-tainted cocaine to customers in September 2019.  The deadly mix caused the overdose deaths of Marsha Clarke of the Bronx, New York, and Martin Banks and Edward Lynch of Yonkers, New York, as well as the hospitalization of Clarke’s husband.  Tejada was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr.  Co-defendants Allen Alexis Abisada Guzman and Martin Perez were previously sentenced to 98 months and 70 months in prison, respectively.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “The sentencing of Jose Luis Tejada Aybar marks a crucial step in bringing justice to the victims not only of the Cab Louie Delivery Service but also those victims of fentanyl and other lethal drugs.  The devastating consequences of Tejada’s operation underscore the importance of dismantling criminal enterprises like this, and this prosecution reaffirms our unwavering commitment to combating organized crime and protecting our communities from the dangers of drug trafficking.”

According to the sentencing papers and the Court’s determinations at the sentencing hearing: 

In March 2018, Jose Luis Tejada Aybar ("Tejada") started the Cab Louie Delivery Service, which delivered cocaine to customers in the Bronx and Westchester County.  Customers would call or text one of the business’s rotating dispatch lines to place an order, and the Cab Louie Delivery Service would send a driver to deliver cocaine to the customer.  During its operation from March 2018 to September 2021, the Cab Louie Delivery Service sold, in total, more than 15 kilograms of cocaine — equivalent to nearly 24,000 bags of cocaine. 

As his business expanded, Tejada hired employees for the Cab Louie Delivery Service.  Two of those employees were Allen Alexis Abisada Guzman (“Abisada”) and Perez, both of whom delivered cocaine for the business.  In addition to hiring employees, Tejada led the Cab Louie Delivery Service by sourcing its cocaine, obtaining and operating the dispatch phones, and providing Abisada with a car to deliver cocaine.  Tejada profited from the business throughout its three-plus years of operation.

On September 19, 2019, ABISADA delivered cocaine on behalf of the Cab Louie Delivery Service to three different customers:  Clarke, Banks, and Lynch.  The cocaine was tainted with fentanyl.  Within two days, Clarke, Banks, and Lynch were found dead, and Clarke’s husband was found unresponsive.  Medical examiners determined that Clarke, Banks, and Lynch all died from acute intoxication by the combined effects of cocaine and fentanyl, among other drugs.  Clarke’s husband was hospitalized for a fentanyl overdose and in a coma for a period.  When he emerged from the coma, Clarke’s husband had to relearn how to speak, how to feed himself, how to use the restroom, and how to walk. 

Despite learning of the overdose deaths of Banks and Lynch through a local news article, which he saved on his phone, Tejada continued operating the Cab Louie Delivery Service.  Between November 6, 2019, and February 13, 2020, a New York Police Department undercover officer made six controlled purchases of cocaine from the Cab Louie Delivery Service.  Tejada personally made two of the deliveries, Abisada made three, and Perez made one. 

In addition to the prison term, Tejada, 41, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced to five years of supervised release and a $100 mandatory special assessment.   

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the NYPD, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) New York Strike Force, and the Complex Analytical and Social Media Enhancement Team at the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.  Mr. Williams also thanked the Yonkers Police Department and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for their assistance in the case. 

The OCDETF New York Strike Force provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location.  This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations.  The specific mission of the New York Strike Force is to target, disrupt, and dismantle drug trafficking and money laundering organizations, reduce the illegal drug supply in the United States, and bring criminals to justice.  The Strike Force is affiliated with the DEA’s New York Division and includes agents and officers of the DEA; NYPD; New York State Police; Homeland Security Investigations; U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; New York National Guard; U.S. Coast Guard; New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision; Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office; Fort Lee Police Department; Palisades Interstate Parkway Police; Teaneck Police Department; Hillsdale Police Department; Closter Police Department; Northvale Police Department; River Vale Police Department; Englewood Police Department; Saddle River Police Department; Bergen County Sheriff’s Department; Hawthorne Police Department; and Hackensack Police Department.

The case is being handled by the Office’s Narcotics Unit.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Li is in charge of the prosecution.