| Two Men In Car With $250000 in Trap
Were Freed Now Fernandez Gets 30 Months in
SDNY
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
- Guardian
UK - Honduras
- The
Source
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Feb 2 – It was five pm on
August 24, 2020 with two
co-defendants appeared by
video before U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York
Magistrate Judge Debra
Freeman. Inner City Press
covered it.
The two men,
Victor Castro and Eduardo
Fernandez, were arrested with
$250,000 in the trap of a car
they had driven from
Massachusetts.
Castro's Federal
Defender said he owns a home
worth $400,000. The address
was given, and the salary and
workplace of his wife.
Co-defendant
Fernandez has a girlfriend who
works for a bank making
$100,000 a year. Both men were
ordered released on $175,000
bond, but were detained
overnight in the MCC.
On January
5, 2021, the case resurfaced,
but only with Castro, not
Fernandez. Castro, still
represented by the same
Federal Defender, has a trial
date of May 3 before SDNY
Judge Sidney H. Stein.
Meanwhile,
Fernandez has dropped from the
case and has gotten a series
of "Orders to Continue in the
Interest of Justice," from
Magistrate Judges.
Then this,
docketed on January 21, from
Magistrate Judge Stewart D.
Aaron: "ORDER TO CONTINUE IN
THE INTEREST OF JUSTICE as to
Eduardo Fernandez. Time
excluded from 1/20/21 until
2/19/21. (Signed by Magistrate
Judge Stewart D. Aaron on
1/20/21)."
On May 26, Castro
and his counsel appeared
before Judge Stein in order to
plead guilty. When asked by
Judge Stein when he had done,
Castro said he had traveled to
New York with money to
exchange for drugs. Judge
Stein asked for more detail;
the Federal Defender asked for
a side phone conversation.
Finally, that
plea was accepted.
On February 2,
2022, Eduardo Fernandez
appeared for sentencing. Inner
City Press again covered it.
Judge Stein imposed a sentence
of 30 months, and expressed a
hope that Fernandez not lose
his house, and that he not see
him again (meaning, in court).
There are also three years of
Supervised Release.
The case is US v.
Castro, 20-cr-637 (Stein).
***
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