News
Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2004
For
Information Contact:
Special Agent Waldo P. Santiago
DEA Public Information Officer
787-775-1727
Mr.
Orlando Rios-Walker
Deputy Public Information Officer
U.S. Attorney's Office
787-282-1821
Special
Agent Elida Michaud
Public Information Officer
Internal Revenue Service
561-719-9044
787-549-0128
Nineteen Individuals Indicted in the District of Puerto Rico For Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering as a Result of a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Investigation
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - United
States Attorney H.S. Garcia, District of Puerto Rico; Jerome M. Harris,
Special Agent in Charge of the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) Caribbean Division, and Brian J. Wimpling,
Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation
Division (IRS-CID), Miami Field Office, announced today the arrest of
11 members of a drug trafficking organization based in Puerto Rico and
operating in Colombia, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, the U.S. Virgin
Islands, Florida, and New Jersey. This investigation targeted the drug
trafficking activities of AURELIANO GIRAUD-PIÑEIRO and his associates
through the Caribbean and to the United States.
The complexity of this case required the cooperation of the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) Caribbean Division, Criminal Investigations Division of
the Internal Revenue Service, Miami Field Office, and the Police of Puerto Rico
0which, on 1991, initiated the investigation of the aforementioned cocaine trafficking
organization through the multi agency efforts under the command of the Ponce,
Puerto Rico High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area initiative. On December 16,
2003, a federal grand jury indicted GIRAUD-PIÑEIRO, along with eighteen
(18) additional codefendants, on numerous drug trafficking and money laundering
charges, in violation of Title 21 USC Sections 841(a)(1), 846, 853 and 881, and
in violation of Title 18 USC sections 371, 982, 1512(b), 1956(a)(1) and 1956(h).
The Grand Jury indictment accuses the members of this organization with distributing
over 10,000 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through the U.S. Virgin Islands,
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to the United States through out the duration
of the conspiracy. The Grand Jury indictment also seeks the criminal forfeiture
of over $70,000,000.00 U.S. Dollars in illegal drug proceeds amassed by this
drug trafficking organization. This amount represents cash, conveyances, properties,
bank accounts, and any other assets illegally acquired by the organization from
drug proceeds.
The following individuals were indicted by the Federal Grand Jury and
federal arrest warrant were issued against them by a U.S. Magistrate
Judge in the District of Puerto Rico:
Penalties for convictions of the offenses alleged in the indictment, range from ten (10) years to life imprisonment, and fines up to $4,000,000.00 dollars. The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial. The government has the burden of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt. This investigation was conducted by the DEA Caribbean Division’s HIDTA Ponce Resident Office and the IRS-CID Miami Field Office, and is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Desiree Laborde. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Puerto Rico Police Department, the Puerto Rico Justice Department’s Special Investigations Bureau, the Puerto Rico Treasury Department and the Puerto Rico National Guard Counterdrug Support Task Force provided essential investigative and logistical support and greatly contributed to the success of this investigation. For more information on DEA visit us in the Internet at www.dea.gov.