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Edwin “Tortuga” Nieves-Rosado, a 56-year-old U.S. citizen who was living in the Dominican Republic, must serve just about all of the sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
Nieves-Rosado "played a managerial role" in conspiring to smuggle the cocaine from with at least five other people from 2016 through January, 2020.
Nieves-Rosado took a deal from the government rather than face trial and pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas sentenced him to five years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited special agents and task force officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration in New Jersey, as well as special agents and task force officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
He also thanked the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the U.S. Marshals Service for their assistance with the case.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Repole of Sellinger's Economic Crimes Unit and Assistant U.S. Attorney Francesca Liquori, Chief of his OCDETF/Narcotics Unit.
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