Former Haitian Political Candidate Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Trafficking in South Florida

On November 20, 2018, Vincent Casseus, a former political candidate in Haiti, pled guilty in South Florida to possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

Ariana Fajardo Orshan, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office made the announcement.

Casseus, a/k/a “Angelo,” 44, of Jérémie, Haiti, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams on January 30, 2019, in Miami, Florida (Case No. 18-CR-20470).  He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 5 years in prison.

According to the court docket, including the agreed upon factual proffer, Casseus led a drug-trafficking organization that used drug mules to import cocaine into the United States, concealed in commercial-grade tomato paste cans.  Law enforcement intercepted cocaine from Casseus’s organization in south Florida and Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, including on November 6, 2016, when FBI agents seized approximately 2,999 grams of cocaine from Casseus and his co-defendant, Vito Antenor, in Miami, Florida.

Casseus was extradited to the United States, from Haiti, for prosecution.

Antenor, 40, of Miami-Dade, pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine on September 13, 2018, and is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Williams on January 11, 2019.

This investigation and prosecution was carried out by members of the South Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force.  The South Florida HIDTA, established in 1990, is made up of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies who, cooperatively, target the region’s drug-trafficking and money laundering organizations.  The South Florida HIDTA is funded by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which sponsors a variety of initiatives focused on the nation’s illicit drug trafficking threats.

This prosecution is a result of the ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate, and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.

U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended the investigative efforts of the FBI in this matter.  She also thanked Homeland Security Investigations, the Miami-Dade Police Department, Doral Police Department, the United States Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Country Attaché in Haiti, the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service and the Haitian National Police.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan K. Osborne.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.