Pair Sentenced to 45 Months Incarceration on Cocaine Conspiracy Conviction

St. Thomas, VI – United States Attorney Delia L. Smith announced today that Jose Solano, 53, and Andrew Wilson, 49, were sentenced by Chief District Judge Robert Molloy to 42 months incarceration after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Possess with Intent to Distribute Cocaine.

According to court documents, on October 13, 2021, a Drug Enforcement Administration confidential source arranged for the purchase of 25 kilograms of cocaine at a cost of $312,000.00 from Solano. On October 14, 2021, agents and the confidential source arrived at the Havensight Mall, St. Thomas, the location of the exchange. Solano, Wilson, Matthew Hazel, Lodwin Ashton and Cesar Thomas-Leveret later arrived at Havensight to complete the cocaine sale and were arrested. Agents recovered approximately 25 bricks of cocaine from the trunk of Solano’s G35 Infiniti and one loaded semi-automatic Walther Arms handgun from the driver’s seat. An additional loaded Glock firearm was also recovered. The suspected cocaine was laboratory tested and determined to be cocaine with a net weight of approximately 25.11 kilograms. Ashton and Thomas-Leveret also pleaded guilty to the drug conspiracy and are await sentencing.

This case was investigated by Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations Air Marine Operations, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Virgin Islands Police Department and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Melissa Ortiz. This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.