“With my connections in the Government, I have the ability to move up to 600 kilograms of cocaine by plane and up to a ton by ship”, these were the words of the exconsul Jeremiah Jimenez Cruzwhen he was recorded admitting the facts for which he was convicted this week.
Jiménez Cruz, who called himself the half brother of a former presidentwas sentenced to 15 years in prison for using his position and contacts in the Dominican government to import cocaine To united states.
“The former consul has also presented himself as the half brother of a former president of two terms of the Dominican Republic”, highlights the accusation of the Department of Justice of the Southern District of New York.
However, the indictment does not specify the name of the former president to which Jiménez Cruz was referring following his arrest in 2019.
Jiménez Cruz, admitted that he was the leader of this conspiracy that involved the importation of more than 50 kilograms of cocaineand that he abused his position of public trust to commit the crime.
His accomplices:
Jessika Fuentes Sánchez, alias Blanquita, was on the radar of the authorities since September 2019, when Jiménez Cruz was arrested, in fact, the official accusation of the Southern District of New York, was held once morest both.
According to the indictment, Fuentes Sánchez was allegedly Jiménez’s liaison to transport the drug from Colombia to New York and vice versa.
The investigation once morest Jeremiah Jimenez Cruz and Jessika Fuentes Sánchez began around 2015, when he was still in his position as consul.
When in 2019 they filed charges once morest Jeremiah Jimenez CruzJessika Fuentes Sánchez, and others whose names were not released, were accused of concealing and disguising the nature, location, source, ownership, and ownership control of property acquired as a result of illegal activities.
In addition, the people are accused of having sent approximately 100 thousand dollars between New York and Colombia, product of drug trafficking.
According to the prosecutor’s document, Jiménez was accused of two charges:
1. Conspiring to import at least five kilograms of cocaine to the United States, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.
2. Conspiring to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
For Judge Kimba M. Wood, who passed the sentence, both Jiménez Cruz and his collaborators “used their position, connections and planes to traffic large amounts of cocaine“.
At trial, he acknowledged that he was “the leader of a network that trafficked more than 50 kilos of cocaineand that he abused his public position to commit the crime,” according to the court statement.