Daniel Jesus Salazar-Gonzalez, Cocaine Conspiracy, Virgin Islands 2019

Venezuelan Man Sentenced for Cocaine Conspiracy in USVI

ST. CROIX, VI - A Venezuelan national has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for his role in a cocaine conspiracy that was intercepted by the US Coast Guard off the coast of St. Croix.

Daniel Jesus Salazar-Gonzalez, 43, was one of 11 Venezuelan nationals apprehended on September 25, 2019, after the Coast Guard intercepted a suspicious 55-foot vessel displaying Venezuelan nationality.

According to court documents, the 'La Gran Tormenta' was intercepted approximately 38 nautical miles south of St. Croix, and the occupants failed to respond to the Coast Guard's efforts to engage in questioning. The crew members later detained the 11 individuals onboard the vessel and retrieved two bales from the ocean that contained packages of brick-shaped objects that tested positive for cocaine hydrochloride and weighed approximately 49 kilograms.

The case was investigated by the United States Coast Guard, Drug Enforcement Administration and Customs and Border Protection. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Melissa P. Ortiz.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation, which identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States.

The defendant's sentence of 46 months imprisonment followed by two years of supervised release was handed down by District Judge Wilma Lewis on the charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine while on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-vi/pr/venezuelan-sentenced-48-months-drug-conspiracy-case