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Meth Trafficker Sentenced to Life in Prison
BOSTON, MA—A Chino, California, man was sentenced late yesterday in federal court
for trafficking approximately 30 pounds of methamphetamine to Boston and laundering
hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money using a sophisticated system of cash deposits,
wire transfers, and bogus checks.
Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks, Colonel Mark Delaney,
Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division and Steven Derr, Special Agent in
Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that JOSE DeJESUS
RUVALCABA, age 34, of Chino, California, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George A.
O’Toole to life imprisonment, the mandatory penalty. RUVALCABA was convicted by a jury
of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and money laundering on May 5, 2008.
Evidence presented during trial proved that from 2004 through 2006, RUVALCABA led
a large and complex methamphetamine distribution and money laundering conspiracy.
RUVALCABA served as the source of supply for his co-conspirators and distributed dozens of
pounds of methamphetamine to them in Boston, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. In
return, RUVALCABA’s co-conspirators paid RUVALCABA hundreds of thousands of dollars
in cash in person, by overnight courier, and through cash deposits and money transfers into a
Bank of America account belonging to RUVALCABA.
In August, 2004, RUVALCABA opened a Bank of America account in the name of
Dynamic MultiMedia. During the conspiracy, members of the drug ring paid RUVLACABA
over $400,000 for methamphetamine by depositing drug proceeds into the Dynamic MultiMedia
account. One member of the conspiracy deposited approximately $290,000 in cash as payment
for methamphetamine from RUVALCABA.
RUVALCABA typically charged from $12,500 to $20,000 per pound for
methamphetamine, and the $400,000 in drug proceeds he received corresponded to 20 to 32
pounds of methamphetamine.
RUVALCABA was arrested on March 16, 2006. Upon arrest, RUVALCABA admitted
sending methamphetamine to Boston. The cell phones that RUVALCABA had at the time of his
arrest, and which he acknowledged were his own, contained text messages to and from other
members the conspiracy and a recorded memo/reminder from RUVALCABA to himself. The
voice memo was a UPS tracking number. The text messages with the co-conspirator included
the same tracking number, as well as communication back and forth in which the co-conspirator
asked RUVALCABA to send the package to an apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey. FBI
agents found the corresponding package in the New Jersey apartment, and the package contained
a stereo inside which were hidden several hundred grams of methamphetamine. The package
had been mailed from a Staples store in Chino, California, located roughly two miles from
RUVALCABA’s residence.
The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Massachusetts State
Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney
Nathaniel Mendell of Loucks’ Drug Unit. Press Releases | Boston Home
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