United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that a federal jury has found Santo Tavarez Mateo (43), a Dominican national, guilty of attempting to import cocaine into the United States.
Tavarez Mateo faces a minimum sentence of 10 years, up to life, in federal prison. His sentencing hearing has not yet been set.
According to testimony and evidence presented during the three-day trial, Colombian National Police officers investigated a package at the Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport in Barranquilla, Colombia, before an airline transported the cargo from Barranquilla to Miami, then on to Amsterdam.
During the inspection, Colombian National Police officials found various food products in the cargo, including coconut cream, quinoa powder, and granulated quinoa.
The cargo also contained cocaine mixed in with some of the food products, as a Colombian National Police chemist later confirmed. Colombian National Police officials seized the cargo and learned that it was shipped by a company that belonged to Tavarez Mateo.
Tavarez Mateo operated this company, Industria Derividos del Coco S.A.S., under the alias “Aristides Castillo Castillo” and using a fake Colombian identity.
Tavarez Mateo later admitted to a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent that he had shipped the drug-laden cargo and that he did so under this false identity.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from the Colombian National Police. Assistant United States Attorneys Michael J. Buchanan and Lauren Stoia is prosecuting it.
