| Men Extradited by Colombia
Not on Guns Only Drugs Now Lead
Defendant Asks for 5 Years
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Nov 27 – A man extradited in
from Colombia was presented on
March 22, 2024 before U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Magistrate Judge Gary Stein.
Inner City Press was there,
the only media in the SDNY Mag
Court.
Olmes
Duran Ibarguen had been
indicted on cocaine
importation and machine gun
charges.
But it emerged
that Colombia had only
extradited him on the cocaine
counts, and so the machine gun
charges, like those on which
former Honduras President Juan
Orlando Hernandez was
convicted earlier in the
month, would in this case be
dropped.
The day's
CJA lawyer, from a large law
firm based in New Jersey,
consented to
detention.
On May 29,
co-defendant Juan Felipe
Santibanez Cardona pled
guilty, with sentencing set
for October 21.
On August 21, Olmes
Duran Ibarguen
came to plead
guilty, and
Inner City
Press was
there, thread:
He's
still in
yellow - still
in Essex; two
US Marshals,
two lawyers
Judge:
We were
charged with
massive
amounts of
narcotics. You
are being
allowed to
plea to a
lesser
included
offense,
conspiracy to
import 500
grams and more
of cocaine,
with mandatory
minimum prison
sentence of 5
years.
Judge:
Tell me what
you did.
Defendant: In
August 2021 in
Cali, Colombia
I met with my
co-defendants
about
transporting
cocaine to
NYC, via
Panama, Costa
Rica, DR or
Guatemala. I
would get paid
in Mexico
City.
Judge:
I accept your
guilty
plea...Sentencing
will be on
December 10 at
10:30 am.
Another
co-defendant
was set to
plead guilty
just after,
but asked for
more time to
speak with
counsel so it
was
re-scheduled.
And on
August 28, the
guilty plea
did happen:
Oscar
Henao-Montoya
pled guilty to
the lesser
included
offense in
Count 1, with
sentencing set
for December
17 at 10:30
am.
On
October 29,
defense
counsel wrote
in to asking
for a thirty
day delay, for
the PSR to be
translated
and to get
letters.
On
November 12,
for Santibanez
Cardona's sentencing
on November 26, the
US Attorney's
Office wrote
in asking for
210 months.
On
November 26,
he got 15
years: 180
months, but
will transfer
to his
designated
institution delayed
until February
2025 in
order for him
to complete
his coursework at
St. Francis
College.
On November
27, co- and lead
defendant Montoya
Garcia through
his Federal
Defenders
asked for five
years when he
is sentenced
on December
12.
The case is
US v. Montoya Garcia, et al.,
21-cr-692 (Caproni)
***
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