ST. THOMAS -- District Court Judge Curtis V. Gomez on Tuesday sentenced Tomas Liriano Castillo, 44, to 121 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute, United States Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe announced.
Judge Gomez also ordered Castillo to complete 300 hours of community service.
According to the evidence presented at trial, on May 9, 2016, Castillo traveled by boat from Tortola to Hull Bay, in St. Thomas with a backpack containing cocaine. After Castillo got off the boat with the backpack, he tried to discard it when he saw agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) approaching him. Testimony at trial further established that when the back pack was recovered, it contained approximately 5.8 kilograms of cocaine.
The case was investigated by the DEA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Air and Marine. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sigrid Tejo-Sprotte and Everard Potter.
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