International fugitive/Cuban national extradited
ORLANDO, Fla. – A 2017 indictment charging Nelson Pablo Yester-Garrido, age 62, from Cuba, with conspiracy to distribute large amounts of high-grade marijuana and possessing a firearm in furtherance of that conspiracy, was unsealed today. If convicted on all counts, Yester-Garrido faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison.
According to court documents, from the late 1980s through early 1997, Yester-Garrido was part of a group involved in importing kilogram amounts of cocaine and other narcotics into the United States, including negotiating the purchase of a Russian diesel submarine for Colombian drug suppliers. According to law enforcement, around 1997, Yester-Garrido fled to South Africa to escape prosecution related to charges filed in the Southern District of Florida, which have since been dismissed.
In January 2015, the DEA began investigating Yester-Garrido and several other Florida-based individuals who were distributing large amounts of high-grade marijuana to individuals and groups in central Florida. In January 2017, an indictment was returned in the Middle District of Florida charging three of Yester-Garrido’s co-conspirators Juan Almeida, Andrew Cassara, and Wade Jones, Jr. with conspiracy to distribute marijuana. In 2018, Almeida, Cassara, and Jones were sentenced to varying terms of imprisonment.
In October 2017, a grand jury in the Middle District of Florida returned an indictment charging Yester-Garrido with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Later that month, based upon a provisional arrest warrant requested by the U.S. government, Italian authorities apprehended Yester-Garrido at the Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy. In July 2019, the Italian judicial authorities and the Ministry of Justice granted the request for the extradition of Yester Garrido to the Middle District of Florida.
“This is a great example of law enforcement and prosecutors from different countries working together to safeguard communities and have a global impact on crime,” said DEA Miami Division Assistant Special Agent in Charge Marcus R. Anderson.
This case was investigated by the DEA Orlando District Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Office of International Affairs of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice provided significant support with the defendant’s extradition. The U.S. Marshals Service also provided critical assistance by extraditing Yester-Garrido from Italy to the Middle District of Florida. This case will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
More information about this case can be found at https://www.flmd.uscourts.gov or https://ecf.flmd.uscourts.gov
