Dominican drug trafficking ring leader sentenced to 25 years in prison
During the investigation into Edwin Fernandez’s drug smuggling operation, HSI special agents intercepted about 20 kilograms on its way from the Dominican Republic to Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia man who was operating a large-scale cocaine smuggling operation from the Dominican Republic through the Philadelphia airport was sentenced to 300 months in federal prison today. The drugs were intercepted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents investigated the case that led to the sentencing.
Edwin Fernandez, 37, was bringing dozens of kilos of cocaine into United States via Philadelphia International Airport from the Dominican Republic. About 70 kilograms of cocaine in Philadelphia and the Dominican Republic was intercepted during the seizure and investigation.
He pleaded guilty on Jan. 5, 2015 to all six counts of the indictment including: conspiracy to import five kilograms or more of cocaine; importation of five kilograms or more of cocaine; attempted importation of five kilograms or more of cocaine; conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine; and two counts of attempted possession with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.
“The elaborate scheme this drug trafficker created was thwarted by the efforts of HSI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and our other law enforcement partners,” said John Kelleghan, HSI Philadelphia special agent in charge. "When criminals seek to exploit the legitimate security and customs inspection process by corrupting airline employees with access to sensitive areas, it creates a national security vulnerability that will not be tolerated."
Between December 2011 and July 2012, Fernandez, worked with a Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic drug trafficking organization (Santo Domingo DTO) to smuggle approximately 150 kilograms of cocaine into the country. The Philadelphia organization recruited several individuals who worked at U.S. Airways to assist in the operation.
The Santo Domingo DTO employed several individuals, including airport employees in Santo Domingo, to ensure that bags filled with kilograms of cocaine were safely loaded aboard commercial airplanes destined for Philadelphia.
After the bags were safely loaded onto the plane in Santo Domingo, members of the Santo Domingo DTO alerted Fernandez who then notified the recruits to assist in the offloading of the bags at the Philadelphia airport.
Once the plane arrived in Philadelphia, the recruited U.S. Airways employees would offload the baggage from the plane and divert the bags with the drugs onto domestic baggage claim belts, rather than the international baggage claim belts, which are inspected by CBP personnel. Fernandez then arranged for those bags to be retrieved from domestic baggage claim belts for distribution to domestic drug organizations.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell ordered a $5,000 fine, 10 years of supervised release, and a $600 special assessment.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maureen McCartney and Kishan Nair.
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