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Florida resident Jose Luis Tejada Aybar of Miami was sentenced on Tuesday, Feb. 27 to 12 and a half years in prison for operating the Cab Louie Delivery Service, which brought cocaine to customers in the Bronx and Westchester, the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced.
According to federal officials, Tejada Aybar began the delivery service in March 2018. To order drugs, customers would call or text one of the business's rotating dispatch lines, and a driver would then deliver cocaine to them. Between March 2018 and September 2021, the service sold more than 15 kilograms of cocaine, equivalent to nearly 24,000 bags of the drug.
As the business expanded, Tejada Aybar hired more employees and also became busier sourcing the service's cocaine, operating the dispatch phones, and providing a delivery vehicle.
The service eventually proved deadly though, as on Sept. 19, 2019, one of Tejada Aybar's employees delivered cocaine tainted with fentanyl to three customers, including Yonkers resident Edward Lynch. Within two days after the delivery, all three were found dead, and were later determined to have died from acute intoxication caused by the combined effects of cocaine and fentanyl, officials said.
Despite learning of the deaths, Tejada Aybar continued the delivery service, which sold cocaine to a New York City Police officer in six controlled purchases between November 2019 and February 2020.
In a statement, US Attorney Damian Williams condemned Tejada Aybar's actions.
"The sentencing of Jose Luis Tejada Aybar marks a crucial step in bringing justice to the victims not only of the Cab Louie Delivery Service but also those victims of fentanyl and other lethal drugs," Williams said, adding, "The devastating consequences of Tejada’s operation underscore the importance of dismantling criminal enterprises like this, and this prosecution reaffirms our unwavering commitment to combating organized crime and protecting our communities from the dangers of drug trafficking.”
In addition to his prison sentence, Tejada Aybar will be required to serve five years of supervised release.
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