News
Release
FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
June
28, 2007
Providence
Man
is
Sentenced
to
14
Years
in
Prison
for
Arranging
a Shipment of
Cocaine From Colorado
JUN
28-- A
federal
judge
has
sentenced Estroredarcio
Bernard,
51,
of Providence,
to 168
months
in federal
prison
for
a conspiracy
involving
a multi-kilogram
shipment
of cocaine
from
Colorado
to Rhode
Island
in January
2006.
June
W. Stansbury,
Special
Agent
in Charge
of the
Drug Enforcement
Administration
in New
England
and United
States
Attorney
Robert
Clark
Corrente
announced
the sentence,
which
Senior
U.S. District
Court
Judge
Ernest
C. Torres
imposed
yesterday
in U.S.
District
Court,
Providence.
After
hearing
testimony
from a
state
police
detective
at the
sentencing
hearing,
Judge
Torres
ruled
that Bernard
was a
leader
and organizer
of a drug-trafficking
organization
that brought
multi-kilogram
loads
of cocaine
into Rhode
Island.
In
December,
Bernard,
who is
also known
as Beligue,
pleaded
guilty
to conspiracy
to distribute
five kilograms
or more
of cocaine.
At the
plea hearing,
Assistant
U.S. Attorney
Mary E.
Rogers
said the
government
could
prove
that,
in January
2006,
agents
with the High
Intensity
Drug Trafficking
Area Task
Force
(HIDTA) monitored
conversations
between
Bernard,
in Providence,
and Fernando
Gonzalez-Ramirez,
in Colorado.
The two
men discussed
the price
of cocaine
that Gonzalez-Ramirez
wanted
to sell
to Bernard.
They agreed
on $19,000
per kilogram,
and Gonzalez-Ramirez
said a
shipment
would
arrive
in Providence
within
a few
days.
On
January
30, 2006,
agents
saw a
car with
Colorado
license
plates
outside
California
Liquors,
a store
on Union
Avenue
that Bernard
operated,
and subsequently
followed
it to
a warehouse
on Hathaway
Street. Drug
Enforcement
Administration agents
later
that day
seized
from the
warehouse
11 packages,
each containing ½ kilogram
of cocaine.
Agents
that day
arrested
Bernard
and the
driver
of the
Colorado
car, Adalberto
Bejarano-Gonzalez,
who is
a cousin
of Gonzalez-Ramirez.
After
additional
investigation,
federal
agents
arrested
Gonzalez-Ramirez
in Colorado
in August
2006.
Bejarano-Gonzalez
pleaded
guilty
to conspiracy
and to
possessing
with intent
to distribute
five kilograms
or more
of cocaine.
In January,
Judge
Torres
sentenced
him to
37 months
in prison.
In
February,
a jury
found
Gonzales-Ramirez,
34, guilty
of conspiracy
to traffic
in five
kilograms
or more
of cocaine,
and Chief
U.S. District
Court
Judge
Mary M.
Lisi sentenced
him last
month
to 20
years
in prison.
As
part of
the investigation,
federal
agents
also seized
nearly
$100,000
in cash – $9,300
from a
home in
West Warwick,
$70,500
from California
Liquors,
and $20,000
that Bernard’s
wife turned
over to
the FBI.
She was
not charged.
The
Federal
Bureau
of Investigation
and the
Rhode
Island
State
Police
lead the
HIDTA
Task Force,
and detectives
from several
Rhode
Island
police
departments
are assigned
to it.
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