On Thursday, officials from the Justice Department announced that a Dominican Republic national has been sentenced to 13 years and one month in prison. This sentence comes as a result of his involvement in an international conspiracy to traffic over 2,000 pounds of cocaine into the United States.
According to a statement from the Justice Department, Lazaro Viton Rodriguez, a 55-year-old resident of the Dominican Republic, was involved in a drug trafficking network from 2014 to May 2019. This network operated in the Dominican Republic and was responsible for smuggling cocaine from South America to the United States via the Caribbean.
The court documents reveal that the drug trafficking network employed sailing yachts and sport fishing boats to transport the cocaine. They would frequently make stops at different Caribbean ports during the transportation of the narcotics, in order to give the appearance of legitimate voyages.
In November 2018, officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Marine Interdiction Unit intercepted the Casablanca vessel as it entered U.S. waters near Key Biscayne, Fla. The ship was thoroughly searched and over 327 kilograms of cocaine were seized.
According to prosecutors, Rodriguez played a pivotal role in the procurement, registration, and upkeep of the vessels utilized by the drug trafficking network for the transportation of cocaine.
According to a release from the department, he was involved in registering vessels using straw purchasers, building hidden compartments on the boats to conceal the cocaine, and coordinating with crew members via satellite phone as they traveled to various Caribbean locations to collect the drugs.
In November, Rodriguez admitted his guilt for involvement in a conspiracy to import five or more kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
Homeland Security Investigations was in charge of the case, which took place in the New York office.
