News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 14, 2006

Three sentenced in two-kilogram cocaine conspiracy

A federal judge today sentenced Alejandro Pujols, 36, to 216 months in prison for his role in a two-kilogram cocaine trafficking conspiracy. Also today, codefendant Waskar Pena, 31, of Providence, was sentenced to 151 months in prison and fined $50,000. A third defendant was previously sentenced and three more are awaiting sentencing. In December, Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested all six men at a house in Providence and seized two kilograms of cocaine that two of them had just transported from Lawrence, Massachusetts.

June W. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England and United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the sentences, which Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres imposed in U.S. District Court, Providence. In June, Judge Torres sentenced Cornelio Ozorio, 25, of Providence, to 37 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy.

Pujols, Pena, Ozorio, Eduardo Garcia, 35, of Providence, and Christopher Garcia, 34, of Methuen, Massachusetts, pled guilty to participating in the cocaine conspiracy. In April, a jury found Domingo A. Gonzales, 21, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, guilty of two charges related to the conspiracy.

During Gonzales’ trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adi Goldstein presented evidence that, last December, DEA agents monitored conversations in which Pujols discussed selling kilogram weights of cocaine to Pena. Pena also discussed the transaction with Ozorio. The men used coded language, referring to cocaine as “confetti” and kilograms of cocaine as “girls.”

On December 11, agents observed Pujols and Pena, in Pena’s minivan, rendezvous with Gonzales and Christopher Garcia, who were waiting in a Town Car on Elmwood Avenue, and lead them to Pena’s house on Gallatin Street, where Eduardo Garcia was waiting. Ozorio then arrived at the house. When Ozorio was leaving, agents converged on the house and, when they conducted a pat-down search of Ozorio, a kilogram package of cocaine fell from under his coat.

In the basement of the house, agents seized another kilogram package of cocaine, which had been cut open for testing. Assistant U.S. Attorney Goldstein noted the presence of a heat sealer next to the cocaine, suggesting that the agents had interrupted the cocaine deal as it was happening. Agents also seized from the house a digital scale and $1,240 in cash. They seized a .22 caliber pistol and about 97 grams of cocaine from a hidden compartment in the Town Car in which Christopher Garcia and Gonzales had arrived and about 162 grams of heroin from a car belonging to Pena.

Agents arrested all six defendants. They found Gonzales hiding under a pile of rubbish in the basement.

Gonzales and both Garcias are detained in federal custody, awaiting sentencing.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case.