Jorge Carrasquillo-Ortiz, Cocaine Trafficking, Massachusetts 2016

Defendant’s Descent into Crime

BOSTON — In a shocking turn of events, a former United Parcel Service (UPS) employee has been sentenced to three years in prison for his role in a cocaine trafficking organization that shipped cocaine concealed in UPS packages from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts.

Jorge Carrasquillo-Ortiz, 41, of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Senior Judge Rya Zobel to three years in prison and two years of supervised release. In January 2017, Carrasquillo-Ortiz pleaded guilty to one count of attempted distribution of 500 grams of cocaine.

Carrasquillo-Ortiz, a UPS employee in Puerto Rico, worked on behalf of a drug trafficking organization that shipped cocaine laden packages from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts via UPS. According to prosecutors, Carrasquillo-Ortiz was paid $1,200 for each kilogram of cocaine that he shipped on behalf of the drug trafficking organization.

The case against Carrasquillo-Ortiz began in June 2016, when a cooperating witness began placing recorded telephone calls to Carrasquillo-Ortiz in which they made plans for a six-kilo shipment. The telephone calls culminated in the delivery of a box containing six kilos of “sham” cocaine to Carrasquillo-Ortiz in Puerto Rico, who then snuck the package through UPS security, which was then placed on a UPS airplane and delivered to Massachusetts.

Carrasquillo-Ortiz then called back the cooperating witness, expecting payment for his services; instead, Carrasquillo-Ortiz was arrested at his home in August 2016.

United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael J. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric S. Rosen of Weinreb’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.

Carrasquillo-Ortiz’s sentence serves as a stark reminder of the severity of the consequences for those involved in cocaine trafficking. The case highlights the importance of cooperation between law enforcement agencies in disrupting and dismantling these organizations.

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