A Pennsylvania produce importer was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being convicted of smuggling cocaine inside boxes of hot peppers.
Humberto Baez was sentenced Thursday on charges of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine, and for possessing with intent to distribute cocaine, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He had been convicted of the charges by a jury back in 2019.
"Concealing drug shipments with produce is one way drug traffickers try to elude law enforcement," DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan said. "This cat and mouse game evolves over time resulting in law enforcement recovering drugs in various places; such as inside coconuts, wheelchairs, animals, people, tombstones, etc. just to name a few."
Baez's drug crimes occurred between August 2016 and March 2018, when he worked with others to bring cocaine into the United States from the Dominican Republic by hiding it inside a shipping container.
Prior to the drug shipments, Baez had imported actual produce to use as a front to appear as if he was a legitimate importer of goods.
However, in February 2018, cardboard boxes of chili peppers arrived in Miami, Florida along with about 16 kilograms of cocaine, which was hidden in the flaps of the boxes. Baez then told his co-conspirators that a shipment of "ripe tomatoes," the group's code word for cocaine, had arrived and would be transported to Pennsylvania.
But in March 2018, law enforcement personnel discovered the hidden cocaine after searching the shipping container.
"Today’s sentence demonstrates that this Office and its law enforcement partners are committed to stopping the flow of dangerous drugs into this country and to bringing drug traffickers like Baez to justice," Acting United States Attorney Kasulis said.