| Five from
Colombia Appeared in SDNY
Which Requests 12 Years on
Garcia Quimbayo
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Sept 16 – Jey James Roldan
Cardenas and five others are
indicted for a conspiracy to
import narcotics from Colombia
into the United States.
On April
18, 2023 U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of
New York Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
held a proceeding. Inner City
Press went and covered
it.
There were
five defendants, all in the
orange jumpsuits of the
Westchester County Department
of Corrections, in the jury
box.
The sixth
defendant is in Colombia. An
extradition package has been
pending for one year, as have
MLAT requests.
Judge
Kaplan suggested a motion
schedule: August 15, September
5 opposition, September 14
reply, argument on September
28.
If the
MLAT materials including
Colombian wiretaps come
through, there might be a
separate motion schedule for
them.
Jump cut to
January 17, 2024, when counsel
for co-defendant Tatiana
Andrea Vargas Bulla asked for
a time served sentencing,
citing conditions in the
ironically-named El Buen
Pastor prison in Colombia.
Cut again to
April 8, when co-defendant
Jose Alfredo Aguas Oviedo
appeared in SDNY Magistrates
Court to plead guilty.
Reference was made to him
wearing Colombian police garb
during the conspiracy. His
sentencing control date is
July 8.
On May 8, 2024,
Inner City Press went to cover
the trial of Jey James Roldan
Cardenas, in custody. On the
witness stand was a longtime
DEA (and before that FBI)
confidential informant. He is
currently in the US in a one
year renewable "parole,"
working for the DEA.
In 2021 he
communication with Roldan
Cardenas, paying $6000 to
allow a private plane to land
at the Cartagena airport in
Colombia, to bring out 1000
kilos of cocaine to New York,
he said. The AUSA led him
through testimony about his
falling-out with the FBI - he
complained about an agent not
paying him, he said, then got
fired. He identified the
defendant.
On Saturday, May
11 the US Attorney's Office
wrote in seeking to preclude
defense exhibits including
about "the defendant's
upbringing and work conditions
in Colombia," saying these
"are not relevant to any
disputed issue at trial."
On May 14,
Cardenas was found guilty.
On May 29, 73
year old co-defendant Oscar
Gomez Romero asked for 27
months at his sentencing, set
for June 12.
On June 5, the US
Attorney's Office wrote in and
asked for a sentence of 96
months.
On June 12, he
was sentenced to 96 months.
On September 11
co-defendant Jose Aguas wrote
in asking for 108 months on
September 25.
On September 12
Federal Defenders wrote in for
Roldan, asking for "time
served or in the alternative
10 years' imprisonment."
Sentencing is set for
September 26.
On September 16
the US Attorney's Office on
co-defendant Garcia Quimbayo
wrote in after for 144 months.
The defense wrote in asking to
move the sentencing from
September 19 to early October.
The case is
US v. Cardenas, et al.,
21-cr-359 (Kaplan)
***
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