Two Men Sentenced To Prison For Cocaine Trafficking
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Two men were sentenced on Wednesday, February 27, 2013, in U.S. District Court for their part in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr., sentenced Ildefonso Madrid Flores, 28, of Mexico, to 151 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. David Kennedy, 37, of Charlotte, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and will serve four years under court supervision following his prison term.
U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Harry S. Sommers, the Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Division AFD of the Drug Enforcement (DEA), which oversees the Charlotte District Office; Greg McLeod, Director of the North Carolina State Bureau of (SBI); Chief Rodney D. Monroe of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police (CMPD); and Chief Tim W. Ledford of the Mint Hill Police (MHPD).
In May 2012, following a three day trial, a federal jury found Flores guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. According to evidence presented at trial, law enforcement seized two kilograms of cocaine from a vehicle in which the drug transaction occurred. Flores expected to receive $70,000 as payment for the drugs. Also, according to trial evidence, Flores possessed two cell phones. One of the cell phones was subscribed in Flores’ name for his personal use. Flores used the second cell phone to coordinate drug trafficking with his co-conspirators. That phone was subscribed under the name “Tony Montana,” the infamous character from the movie “Scarface.” Trial evidence showed that the co-conspirators had distributed a total of approximately 26 kilograms of cocaine.
Kennedy pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in April 2012. The third co-defendant, Robert Shanley, 34, of Charlotte, pleaded guilty to the same charge in December 2011. Shanley was sentenced in July 2012 to 57 months in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. In November 2011, a fourth co-conspirator, Joshua Poulin, 34, of Clover, S.C., pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 133 months in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. Flores and Kennedy have been in local federal custody and will be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
The investigation was handled by the DEA, the SBI, the CMPD and the MHPD. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United (U.S.) Attorney Steven R. Kaufman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.
The DEA encourages parents, along with their children, to educate themselves about the dangers of legal and illegal drugs by visiting DEA’s interactive websites at www.justthinktwice.com, www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com and www.dea.gov.
