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Dennis Edwards, a 38-year-old Guyanese citizen known as “Death,” had avoided capture after being indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy charges in 2012, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Authorities said he conspired to import cocaine from St. Maarten on a cruise ship.
Edwards was seized by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents at Newark Airport last November after being deported from the Dominican Republic
Edwards took a deal from the government rather than risk the potential outcome of a trial, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Camden to conspiring to import over 20 kilograms of cocaine into the country.
Edwards must serve just about all of the sentence because there’s no parole in the federal prison system.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman sentenced Edwards to three years of supervised release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachelle M. Navarro of Sellinger's General Crimes Unit in Newark secured the plea and sentencing.
Sellinger credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark, deputies of the U.S. Marshals Service and officers with Customs and Border Protection’s New York Field Office.
He also thanked the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs for “substantial assistance” and officials in the DR for their help.
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