News Release
For Immediate Release:
March 19, 2010
Contact: Special Agent Tony Pettigrew
Number: 617-557-2138

Lawrence Woman Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Possess With Intent To Distribute Cocaine

MAR 19 -- (Concord, New Hampshire) Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and United States Attorney John P. Kacavas announced today that Yomaira Arias Cordero, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, plead guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Cordero is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18, 2010. Cordero faces a maximum sentence of 40 years. She is being detained pending sentencing.

An investigation revealed that a co-defendant induced Cordero and two other women from Puerto Rico to travel to the Dominican Republic for the purpose of swallowing small quantities of cocaine packaged in plastic. Once in the Dominican Republic, Cordero and the two women ingested approximately 120 packets, sometimes referred to as “eggs” or “fingers,” of cocaine. Once the women finished ingesting the cocaine, a co-defendant traveled with the three women to Boston, Massachusetts, where they were met by another individual. The group traveled to a hotel in Salem, New Hampshire. The co-defendants left the hotel and purchased laxatives for the women to use in expelling the smuggled cocaine. One woman, Mally Cruz Rodriguez, 25, died when one of the packets burst inside her body.

The Salem Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated this case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra M. Walsh and Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Feith.