Posted on 09/27/2007 3:53:35 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Mexican woman charged in Brownsville-to-Virginia smuggling scheme
A young boy pointed to Diana Maricela Ramirez-Monreal, and told the Drug Enforcement Administration agents, “she made me do it.”
His accusation is recorded in court papers documenting charges against the woman who used the 14-year-old boy to smuggle black tar heroin through the Brownsville-Matamoros border.
On at least eight occasions, Ramirez-Monreal crossed the Gateway International Bridge with the unidentified teen.
He complained that he was forced to stuff the drugs in his underwear for the journey, “because it’s less likely for the juvenile to be stopped by Border Patrol and United States Customs Service as he crossed the border,” court records show.
Ramirez-Monreal, a 31-year-old Mexican national, has been charged with smuggling 100 grams or more of a “mixture substance containing a detectable amount of heroin,” according to the criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Virginia.
Because the drugs were eventually shipped to Portsmouth, Va., she was charged in that district.
Co-defendant Miguel Lerma, also a Mexican national, pleaded guilty to distributing the heroin and was sentenced to 17 years and six months in federal prison, according to the Virginia-Pilot's Sept. 25 edition.
The boy was not charged in the scheme. He is not related to Ramirez-Monreal or Lerma, officials said. It was not clear Wednesday how he became involved with the pair and his whereabouts were also unknown at press time after his testimony to DEA agents.
Court documents show that the operation took place between December 2005 and June 2007, during which Ramirez-Monreal would meet with a contact at the H-E-B on Elizabeth Street to deliver the drugs. That person has not been charged in this case.
Ramirez-Monreal received about $4,350 in cash or money orders for the deliveries, court documents show. She was arrested at the downtown store on June 13 during an attempted delivery of 53 grams of black tar heroin.
Her attorney, Andrew Anthony Protogyrou, said she waived a detention hearing Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge F. Bradford Stillman because she is not a U.S. citizen and cannot be released on bond. “She hasn’t entered any pleas,” Protogyrou said.
Stopping one in eight drug deliveries across the border? No wonder the DEA is bragging about this arrest. It's far better than their normal apprehension record.
Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
George W. Bush's revolving door syndrome, and he wants to keep it that way.
Poor woman, too bad she got caught. She would have made someone a nice nanny.
I’m reluctant to blame the DEA. They get zero cooperation from Governor Perry, who obviously favors an open, unregulated border. Even if Bush suddenly became willing to enforce the law and build the fence, Perry would resist. He’s just as culpable as the drug lords who send this poison into our country.
A fence might help with that 1/8th figure. But no Jorge and Gordo Teddy don’t dive a hoot about our sovereignty.
ping
thanks a lot for those open borders, Jorge, love, Mexico.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.