Three men sentenced for attempting to smuggle $28 million of cocaine on the high seas
SAN DIEGO – Three South American cocaine traffickers were sentenced in federal court this week after being convicted of transporting approximately 1,230 kilograms (2,706 pounds) of cocaine—worth more than $28 million USD—on the high seas. The sentencing hearings followed a week-long trial in April in which a federal jury convicted all three defendants on all charges.
U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez handed down significant custodial sentences for defendants Adrian Andres Cortez-Quinonez, Segundo Marcial Dominguez-Caicedo and Victor Gaspar-Chichande, sentencing them to 228 months, 216 months and 160 months, respectively. Cortez-Quinonez and Gaspar-Chichande were sentenced today; the court handed down Dominguiz-Caicedo’s sentence on Tuesday.
At trial, the United States proved that on Dec. 31, 2017, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton responded to a report of a suspicious go-fast vessel traveling in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, approximately 100 nautical miles north of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. The Stratton launched a helicopter and two small boats to intercept the vessel. As the helicopter closed in, the defendants stopped their vessel to avoid detection. But as the helicopter circled the vessel, the defendants took off, and soon a high-speed chase on the high seas ensued.
The defendants eventually brought their vessel to a stop when they could not outrun the Coast Guard helicopter. Dramatic video from the helicopter captured the defendants jettisoning dozens of bales of cocaine overboard. The defendants sped away again. With the go-fast vessel barreling through the high seas, and the helicopter in pursuit, a Coast Guard precision marksman hanging from the side of the helicopter took five shots at the vessel’s engines, disabling the vessel. Defendants were ultimately detained by the Coast Guard, and other Coast Guard boats recovered the jettisoned cocaine. After the defendants were transported to the United States, agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration continued the investigation.
“These men tried to bring over 24 million dosage units of cocaine into the United States,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Karen Flowers. “That is so much cocaine that the 1.4 million residents of San Diego City each could have gotten over 17 dosages units. That is crazy. Cocaine is a dangerous drug and while it was not meant to stay in San Diego, it would have crushed the city had it made it through. In this case, DEA teamed up with the U.S. Coast Guard and our law enforcement partners to save lives and protect the homeland. These men wanted to profit off of their greed, with utter disregard for other people’s lives. Now they will pay for their actions with 13 to 19 years of their lives.”
AGENCIES
U.S. Coast Guard, United States Attorney’s Office
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