The previous head of the Honduran Nationwide Police was sentenced Thursday to 19 years in jail after pleading responsible to a conspiracy to guard cocaine shipments destined for the US.
Juan Carlos Bonilla Valladares, 64, higher often called “El Tigre” or “The Tiger”, was a member of the Honduran Nationwide Police for many years earlier than turning into its chief for a yr in 2012.
He rose to energy by permitting the trafficking of cocaine in a large sale and utilizing violence, together with homicide, to guard drug trafficking, prosecutors stated in a quick presentation. That they had requested that he be sentenced to 30 years in jail.
The sentence in Manhattan federal courtroom was introduced by Choose P. Kevin Castel.
In a quick presentation by the protection, legal professional Donald Vogelman requested for a sentence of 10 years in jail. He wrote that Valladares “was not at all times concerned in criminality” and that, though he admitted his guilt in a drug conspiracy, he “categorically denies being concerned in any homicide.”
“Occasionally he was concerned within the unlawful drug commerce. In reality, he did a very good job in service to his nation more often than not. He was a really gifted man who lived a double life that was unlucky,” Vogelman stated.
The lawyer stated his shopper was sick and “shall be a marked man” if he survives incarceration and is returned to Honduras.
“He won’t return to prison actions. That chapter in his life is behind him,” stated the lawyer.
Prosecutors stated Valladares accepted profitable bribes to supply armed safety whereas the cocaine was being transported to Honduras. They are saying he ordered different corrupt regulation enforcement officers to guard these shipments and offered delicate regulation enforcement details about pending raids to his co-conspirators.
He was arrested on March 9, 2022, after he was labeled by US prosecutors as a co-conspirator of former president Juan Orlando Hernández and the president's brother Tony Hernández. Prosecutors stated earlier than his sentencing that the brothers have been Valladares' “highly effective political allies.”
https://www.wboy.com/information/nationwide/ap-former-honduras-national-police-chief-gets-19-years-in-us-prison-for-cocaine-distribution/
