News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2004
CONTACT: D. Michael Littlefield, Assistant U.S. Attorney

Major Cocaine Arrest in Oklahoma

Aug 18--MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - United States Attorney Sheldon J. (Shelly) Sperling announced today that JULIO CESAR TANABE, age 30, of Douglas, Arizona, was sentenced in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, at Muskogee, by U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White.

TANABE had earlier plead guilty to the charge of Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute and Distribute Cocaine. He was sentenced to a term of 134 months in the Bureau of Prisons, 60 months supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. In addition, the Court entered an order of forfeiture for $2,520,000.00 which TANABE admitted should be forfeited as proceeds of his unlawful distribution of cocaine.

According to Assistant United States Attorney D. Michael Littlefield, who represented the United States of America in the case, TANABE arranged for the transportation of approximately 168 kilograms of cocaine from Tucson, Arizona, to the New York City area. The cocaine, which was 75 percent pure, had a potential street value of $60 million when cut to the normal 25 percent purity level. "TANABE’S conviction," Assistant United States Attorney D. Michael Littlefield stated, “was the result of the “heads-up” work of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the extensive follow-up investigation by the DEA in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Sierra Vista, Arizona.”