HARTFORD, Conn. — A pilot from Miami who participated in two separate cocaine trafficking conspiracies was sentenced in Hartford to just over seven years in prison on Wednesday, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Prosecutors said Rupert De Las Casas, 64, worked with others to move around 1,700 kilograms of cocaine from South America to the U.S. They added that on Aug. 6, 2016, De Las Casas and Ronier Alonso Sanchez flew a private jet registered in the U.S. from the Dominican Republic to Venezuela, where the cocaine was loaded onto the jet.
De Las Casas was the pilot and Sanchez was the co-pilot, according to prosecutors.
From Venezuela, the jet was to flown to Honduras, where the cocaine would be loaded onto trucks for transport through Mexico and into the U.S., prosecutors said. They noted that a fake flight plan filed with Dominican authorities reported that the plane was traveling to Brazil.
Prosecutors said the plane crash-landed just short of a landing strip in Venezuela, and De Las Casas, Sanchez and another co-conspirator evaded capture by the Venezuelan authorities, while the cocaine was diverted back to Columbia.
A grand jury in Bridgeport returned an indictment on Dec. 14, 2016, charging De Las Casas, Sanchez and others with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more on board an aircraft registered in the U.S., prosecutors said. De Las Casas was arrested on April 15, 2017, and pleaded guilty to the charge on Oct. 23, 2019; he has been detained since his arrest.
Following his arrest, De Las Casas was charged in California for participating in a separate cocaine trafficking conspiracy, and his case was returned to the District of Connecticut, according to prosecutors. On Feb. 27, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine for the purpose of unlawful importation.
Sanchez, a Mexican citizen, was arrested in Asuncion, Paraguay on March 25, 2021, and was extradited to the U.S., where he pleaded guilty. On Dec. 20, 2023, he was sentenced to four years in prison, prosecutors said.
Another co-conspirator, Arrinson De La Cruz, a citizen of the Dominican Republic who resided in Wolcott, had worked at an airport in the Dominican Republic and helped coordinate the travel of the jet through the airport uninterrupted, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, he was charged separately for his role in the scheme and other drug trafficking activity; he pleaded guilty on Nov. 20, 2019, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
De Las Casas' sentence includes time already served and three years of supervised release following his 85 months of imprisonment, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the investigation was conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration New Haven Task Force, which includes members from the DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, Connecticut State Police and multiple local police departments.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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