Drug Trafficker Sentenced To 60 Months In Federal Prison
PROVIDENCE, RI. - A Salem, Mass., man arrested while in possession of more than a kilogram of cocaine in November 2010 by DEA Drug Task Force members and Cranston Police, was sentenced Friday to 60 months in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith, announced Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha. Julio Ernesto Soto, 30, was arrested as he delivered the cocaine during a controlled purchase set up under the direction of the agents.
According to court documents and information presented to the Court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah, a confidential source who was working with DEA Drug Task Force agents arranged for the delivery 850 grams of cocaine for $24,000 from a person the confidential source knew to be a narcotics trafficker. The arrangements called for the cocaine to be delivered by vehicle to a home in Cranston.
DEA Task Force agents and officers from the Cranston Police Department were waiting for the vehicle when it arrived about twenty minutes, later driven by Julio Soto. Inside the vehicle, officers discovered 842.7 grams of cocaine in hidden compartments in the front doors.
