ALBANY, NEW YORK - Francisco Rivera, age 37, of Watervliet, New York, was sentenced today to 121 months in prison, to be followed by 8 years of supervised release, for conspiring to distribute cocaine.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith; Raymond Moss, Acting Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Boston Division; and Acting Albany Police Chief Robert Sears.
As part of his guilty plea on Sept. 18, 2017, Rivera admitted that he arranged for someone in Puerto Rico to mail him kilogram and half-kilogram quantities of cocaine that were hidden within everyday items such as scented candles and board game boxes. He arranged for cocaine shipments to be mailed to residential addresses in Albany, Rensselaer and Schenectady Counties, where he would pick them up and then deliver them to his customers.
United States District Judge Mae A. D’Agostino also ordered Rivera to forfeit $24,500 in cash drug proceeds seized from his Watervliet residence, as well as a 2011 BMW X-6 SUV that he used to transport the cocaine.
This case was investigated by the USPIS and Albany Police Department, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
