Jamaican Drug Courier Convicted At Trial
TAMPA, Fla. - Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement (DEA), Miami Field Division, and A. Lee Bentley, III, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, announced yesterday that a federal jury found Santana (23, Montego Bay, Jamaica) guilty of conspiracy to possess 500 grams or more of cocaine with the intent to distribute, and possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute. James faces a minimum sentence of five years, up to a maximum penalty of 40 years in federal prison. Her sentencing is scheduled for June 18, 2014. James was indicted on August 27, 2013.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on August 13, 2013, James traveled from Montego Bay, Jamaica to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with cocaine. An investigation revealed that she swallowed approximately a half kilogram of cocaine in more than eighty saran wrapped pellets, wore altered undergarments with more than a kilogram of cocaine concealed within them, and inserted a cylinder shaped package filled with cocaine into her body. James brought the cocaine into the United States at the behest of Horace Anthony Troupe, another Jamaican national. Once James arrived with the cocaine, Troupe added it to cocaine brought in by his other drug couriers.
On August 18, 2013, Troupe and co-defendant Antonio Richards were arrested in St. Petersburg, Florida, with 7.5 kilograms of cocaine contained in six individually wrapped packages. Both Troupe and Richards previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. They are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.
This investigation was conducted by the DEA, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the St. Petersburg Police Department, and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office HIDTA Task Force. This investigation is being prosecuted by United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.
