{"id":52967,"date":"2023-04-25T14:05:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-25T21:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=52967"},"modified":"2023-04-25T14:05:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T21:05:43","slug":"colombian-military-official-sentenced-to-12-years-in-prison-for-trafficking-in-cocaine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=52967","title":{"rendered":"Colombian Military Official Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Trafficking in Cocaine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON D.C.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"A former Colombian military intelligence official was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine for importation into the United States, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to court documents, from August 2017 through April 2018, Fabian Humberto Tovar Caicedo, 41, a sergeant in the Colombian Army Intelligence, assisted a drug trafficking organization (DTO) and conspired to send multi-thousand-kilogram shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico for eventual importation into the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Tovar Caicedo offered various corrupt services to the DTO, including providing police in the Port of Santa Marta willing to facilitate the export of cocaine in exchange for payment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, he suggested using the same phones that the DEA used for security, offering his military training to encrypt those phones for additional security, and attempting to sell a list of DEA cooperators to the DTO.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tovar Caicedo organized multiple meetings in furtherance of the cocaine distribution scheme. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Tovar Caicedo and his co-conspirators plotted to send multiple shipments, starting at 2205 pounds of cocaine and moving up to as many as 22,000 kilograms of cocaine per shipment. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to the statement of facts, a member of the DTO traveled to Mexico to negotiate the receipt of the cocaine with a high-ranking Mexican military official.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of Tovar Caicedo\u2019s co-conspirators, Fabian Andres Leyton Vargas, used his position as a Colombian Air Force officer in the Colombian Ministry of Defense to identify and contact security and law enforcement officials in the Port of Santa Marta for bribes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once these officials received their corrupt payments, they would ensure that cocaine-laden cargo containers passed uninspected through the port. <\/span><\/p>\n

Using this method, Leyton Vargas, along with co-conspirators Antonio Aldemar Avila Acevedo and Jose Mauricio Castaneda Garzon, attempted to ship 1,773 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Guatemala en route to the United States in July 2017, as well as 2,081 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico en route to the United States in March 2018. <\/span><\/p>\n

Colombian law enforcement seized both shipments before they could depart the port.<\/span><\/p>\n

A related defendant, Jose Maria Fragoso D\u2019Acunti, used his former position in the Colombian National Police, along with personal connections, to identify and bribe security and law enforcement officials in the port of Cartagena in Columbia to aid his organization\u2019s cocaine trafficking. <\/span><\/p>\n

Fragoso D\u2019Acunti and his co-conspirators planned to traffic multi-hundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine, valued at millions of United States dollars, to Europe by causing such cocaine to be secreted aboard commercial shipping containers. <\/span><\/p>\n

In November 2018, in the port of Savannah, Georgia, U.S. law enforcement seized 516 kilograms of cocaine sent by Fragoso D\u2019Acunti\u2019s DTO from Cartagena that were destined for Antwerp, Belgium. <\/span><\/p>\n

The cocaine was comingled with pineapples in a shipping container. In December 2018, again in the port of Savannah, Georgia, U.S. law enforcement seized an additional 205 kilograms of cocaine sent by Fragoso D\u2019Acunti\u2019s DTO from Cartagena, that were also destined for Belgium. <\/span><\/p>\n

The cocaine was comingled with limes in a shipping container. In support of the conspiracy, Fragoso D\u2019Acunti paid 1 billion Colombian pesos, equivalent to more than $300,000 U.S., in bribe money to a port security officer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fragoso D\u2019Acunti, Fabian Andres Leyton Vargas, and Antonio Aldemar Avila Acevedo were sentenced to 12 years. <\/span><\/p>\n

Co-conspirator Jos\u00e9 Mauricio Castaneda Garzon was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, and multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.<\/span><\/p>\n

The DEA Louisville Division and Cartagena Resident Office investigated the case,.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trial Attorneys Douglas Meisel and Janet Turnbull of the Criminal Division\u2019s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section (NDDS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony T. Aminoff for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

NDDS Trial Attorneys Meisel and Teresita Mutton and Assistant U.S. Attorney Aminoff for the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case against Fragoso D\u2019Acunti.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aminoff (then with NDDS), Katie Rumbaugh, and Dave Peters for the Eastern District of Virginia prosecuted the case against Leyton Vargas, Avila Acevedo, and Castaneda Garzon.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Justice Department\u2019s Office of International Affairs and the Judicial Attach\u00e9 at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota provided substantial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of the defendants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON D.C. A former Colombian military intelligence official was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine for importation into the United States, officials stated….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3255],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-federal-court"],"yoast_head":"\nColombian Military Official Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Trafficking in Cocaine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WASHINGTON D.C. 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