Foreign National Sentenced to Prison for Cocaine Trafficking

A foreign national was sentenced today to 13 years and one month in prison for his role in an international conspiracy to distribute more than 2,000 pounds of cocaine for unlawful importation into the United States.

According to court documents, from 2014 through May 2019, Lazaro Viton Rodriguez, 55, a long-time resident of the Dominican Republic, participated in a drug trafficking network based in the Dominican Republic that transported cocaine from South America, through the Caribbean, to the United States. The drug trafficking network used vessels, such as sailing yachts and sport fishing boats, to transport the cocaine, often stopping in various Caribbean ports while transporting the cocaine to give a cover of legitimacy to each voyage. One of these vessels, the Casablanca, was interdicted by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Marine Interdiction Unit in November 2018 as it entered U.S. waters near Key Biscayne, Florida. Officers boarded and searched the Casablanca, seizing more than 327 kilograms of cocaine.          

Rodriguez was involved in purchasing, registering, and maintaining vessels used by the drug trafficking network to transport cocaine. He assisted in registering vessels in the names of straw purchasers, constructed secret compartments on the vessels to hide the cocaine, and coordinated with crew members via satellite phone as they sailed to locations in the Caribbean to pick up cocaine.

Rodriguez pleaded guilty in November 2023 to participating in a conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine for importation into the United States.         

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Acting Special Agent in Charge Darren B. McCormack of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York; and Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) made the announcement.

The case is supported by the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF).

HSI New York and DEA New York investigated the case.

Acting Assistant Deputy Chief Melanie L. Alsworth and Trial Attorneys Samantha Thompson and Janet Turnbull of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section prosecuted the case. 

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance. The Justice Department thanks authorities in the Dominican Republic for their assistance in the investigation.