Cocaine trafficker is sentenced to eleven years in prison for
organizing multi-kilogram shipments from California to RI

A federal judge has sentenced Modesto DeJesus Castillo, 35, to 135 months in prison for running a cocaine trafficking conspiracy in which multi-kilogram packages of cocaine were shipped by commercial carrier from the Los Angeles area to Rhode Island.

The office of United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the sentence, which U.S. District Court Judge Mary M. Lisi imposed on August 2 in U.S. District Court, Providence. In May, Judge Lisi sentenced Castillo’s brother, Ramon DeJesus Castillo, 31, to 87 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy, which also involved about 19 kilograms of marijuana.

In February, the brothers pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute marijuana. At the plea hearings, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary E. Rogers said that the government could prove that the defendants recruited others to accept packages of cocaine that had been sent via commercial carriers to various addresses in the greater Providence area.

Los Angeles Times

On February 3, 2005, Rhode Island State Police detectives assigned to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA), observed two men pick up a UPS package from the patio of a house. Detectives stopped the men’s vehicle after they drove away from the house and seized the package, which contained four kilograms of cocaine wrapped in cellophane. The package was padded with Styrofoam peanuts and pages from the Los Angeles Times dated
December 23, 2004.

Later that day, HIDTA detectives saw a woman arrive at a residence on Melissa Street in Providence, where she picked up a brown parcel. After she put the parcel in her car, detectives approached her and seized the package. It contained three kilograms of cocaine, also wrapped in cellophane. That package was also padded with Styrofoam peanuts and pages from the Los Angeles Times of December 23, 2004.

A short while later, detectives stopped a vehicle driven by Modesto DeJesus-Castillo as it arrived on Melissa Street. Later, at an apartment on Chapin Street linked to Modesto, detectives found drug trafficking paraphernalia and discarded packaging material similar to what was in the parcels they had seized earlier – including Styrofoam peanuts and pages from the same issue of the Los Angeles Times.

At a residence on Mulberry Street in Pawtucket that the investigation had linked to both brothers, detectives seized about 19 kilograms of marijuana in one pound bags, some of which they found inside the house and some in a car parked behind the house. Detectives also seized a loaded assault rifle from the house.

The Rhode Island State Police and the FBI lead the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, which is staffed by state police detectives, FBI agents and detectives from several municipal police departments.

Contact: 401-709-5032 Thomas.connell@usdoj.gov

Find news releases and other information of interest on the U.S. Attorney’s Web site: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/ri/