BOSTON – A Stoughton man has pleaded responsible to operating a big drug trafficking group (DTO) that shipped dozens of packages containing kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to numerous addresses in japanese Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Patrick Joseph, 41, pleaded responsible on March 14, 2024 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or extra of cocaine. U.S. District Court docket Chief Decide F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled a sentencing for June 20, 2024.
In February 2020, Joseph was recognized because the supervisor of a DTO that facilitated the importation of tens of kilograms of cocaine from abroad by way of the US Mail. Joseph served because the Massachusetts-based importer who communicated instantly with suppliers within the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, coordinating the cargo of 10-20 kilograms of cocaine at a time in packages despatched to Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The cocaine was hid in portions of two kilograms in air fryers and money packing containers sealed in shipped packages. Joseph additionally supervised a number of couriers who would retrieve and ship packages and organize them for a number of stash areas from which the DTO operated.
Joseph was arrested and charged with eight others in Might 2021. On the time of the arrests, numerous firearms, 21 kilograms of cocaine and greater than $100,000 in money had been seized.
The cost of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms of cocaine carries a penalty of not less than 10 years to life in jail, 5 years to life supervised launch and a effective of $ 10 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district courtroom decide primarily based on the US Sentencing Tips and different statutory elements.
United States Legal professional Joshua S. Levy; Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Cost of the Boston Division of the US Postal Inspection Service; John E. Mawn Jr., Performing Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police; and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox made the announcement as we speak. The Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Area Division and Homeland Safety Investigations in Boston supplied invaluable help with the investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Philip C. Cheng and James E. Arnold of the Felony Division are prosecuting the case.
This case is a part of an operation of Process Forces for the enforcement of Organized Medicine Crime (OCDETF). The OECDTF identifies, disrupts and dismantles the highest-level felony organizations that threaten the US utilizing a prosecutor-led, intelligence-led, multi-agency strategy. Further details about the OCDETF program may be discovered at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
The main points contained within the charging paperwork are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed harmless except and till confirmed responsible past an inexpensive doubt in a courtroom of regulation.
