In Hartford on Wednesday, a Miami-based pilot who took part in two different cocaine trafficking schemes was given a sentence of little more than seven years in prison, as said in a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Rupert De Las Casas, 64, is accused by the prosecution of coordinating with others to transport 1,700 kg of cocaine from South America into the United States.
They further stated that on August 6, 2016, De Las Casas and Ronier Alonso Sanchez traveled from the Dominican Republic to Venezuela on a private aircraft registered in the United States, where the cocaine was loaded. Prosecutors claim that De Las Casas was the pilot and Sanchez was the co-pilot.
Prosecutors alleged that the jet was scheduled to take off from Venezuela and land in Honduras, where the cocaine was to be loaded onto trucks and driven via Mexico into the United States.
They pointed out that an alleged flight plan submitted to the Dominican authorities purportedly showed the aircraft’s destination as Brazil.
The cocaine was redirected back to Columbia, according to prosecutors, and De Las Casas, Sanchez, and one other conspirator managed to avoid being apprehended by Venezuelan authorities after the plane crashed just short of a landing strip.
On December 14, 2016, a grand jury in Bridgeport returned an indictment accusing De Las Casas, Sanchez, and other individuals of conspiring to possess and intend to distribute five kilograms or more of marijuana on board an airplane registered in the United States, according to prosecutors.
De Las Casas has been in custody since his arrest on April 15, 2017, and on October 23, 2019, he entered a guilty plea to the charge.
Prosecutors said that after De Las Casas was taken into custody, he was accused in California for taking part in a different cocaine trafficking scheme.
The case was then transferred back to the District of Connecticut. He entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute cocaine with the intent to import it illegally on February 27.
After being detained in Asuncion, Paraguay on March 25, 2021, Sanchez, a citizen of Mexico, was extradited to the United States and entered a guilty plea. He was given a four-year prison sentence on December 20, 2023, according to the prosecution.
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Prosecutors said that Arrinson De La Cruz, a Dominican Republic citizen living in Wolcott, was another accomplice who helped arrange the plane’s seamless passage through the airport while working at a Dominican Republic airport.
He was prosecuted separately, according to the prosecution, for his involvement in the conspiracy and other drug trafficking activities. On November 20, 2019, he entered a guilty plea and received a 12-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors indicated that in addition to the time already served, De Las Casas will serve three years of supervised release after serving 85 months in jail.
The Drug Enforcement Administration New Haven Task Force, which consists of agents from the DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, Connecticut State Police, and many local police agencies, conducted the investigation, according to the prosecution.
