PHILADELPHIA - Ronald Mays, 63, of Wilmington, Delaware, pleaded guilty today to three counts of attempted possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Mays worked for the Port of Wilmington in Delaware at the time. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Baylson scheduled a sentencing hearing for Feb. 11, 2016. Mays faces a possible advisory sentencing guideline range of 57 to 71 months in prison.
Mays was working at the Port of Wilmington in Delaware and had access to the ships that came into the port. In October of 2013, agents with Homeland Security Investigations were investigating possible drug smuggling involving ships that traveled to the port from countries in Central and South America. After a cooperating defendant contacted Mays and told Mays that a group of traffickers that they both knew would resume running drugs out of the port, Mays agreed to look in to security at the port. Mays and the cooperating defendant had several meetings about unloading the drugs from a ship and also conducted a dry run. On Dec. 29, 2013, an HSI special agent placed sham cocaine in a container on a ship docked at the Port of Wilmington. On January 6, 2014, Mays told the cooperating defendant that he had the drugs and the two met for Mays to deliver the package. Similar transactions were completed in February and March of 2014, with Mays receiving a total of $24,000 to retrieve 12 kilos of what he believed was cocaine from ships docked at the port. After the March transaction, officers followed Mays and pulled him over on I-95.
In addition to the prison term, Mays faces possible fines, at least four years of supervised release, and a special assessment of $300.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sozi Pedro Tulante.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
