St. Croix, USVI - District Court Senior Judge Raymond L. Finch, on Jan. 31, 2017, sentenced Jose Luis Pacheco-Montes, 34, of Puerto Rico, to 46 months in prison for attempted possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, United States Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced. Judge Finch also sentenced Pacheco-Montes to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a special assessment of $100.
Pacheco-Montes had pleaded guilty to the attempted possession of cocaine on Aug. 17, 2016. Between November 9, 2015, and Nov. 12, 2015, Pacheco-Montes and others made three boat trips from St. Croix in attempt to effect a mid-sea retrieval of cocaine. They intended to bring the drugs to St. Croix and transship them to Puerto Rico. On Nov. 13, 2015, other co-conspirators successfully effected the mid-sea retrieval of the drugs and were apprehended at Knight’s Bay in St. Croix. Law enforcement agents seized 87 kilograms of cocaine at the scene of apprehension.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alphonso Andrews, Jr.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
