Santo Domingo.- He Fourth Collegiate Court of Santiago condemned 15 years in prison for a man for laundering money from drug trafficking and illegal possession of firearms.
This is Ramón Orlando de los Santos Blanco, who mobilized resources amounting to sixteen million eight hundred and six thousand one hundred pesos.with ninety-two cents (RD$16,806,100.92), without being able to justify by legal means the origin of these funds.
The investigations carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office established that, after identifying the suspicious profile of the man, who used it as a collection center for storing drugs his residence in the Gurabo sector, it was necessary to search the home, whose authorization was processed before the Judicial Office of Permanent Attention Services, obtaining search warrant number 07607-2021.
Among the items seized in the home is a total of six million two hundred seventy-one thousand four hundred pesos ($6,271,400.00), in cash, as well as 16 40-millimeter caliber capsules, a scale, and a cell phone.
We invite you to read: Italian was going to France with 104 bags of cocaine in his stomach
Also, one of them was occupied 4Runner Limited 4×4 SUV, which is in the name of Julio César Comes Villafaña, a well-known drug trafficker who is in rebellion.
Investigations revealed that De los Santos Blanco used the aforementioned vehicle to transport cocaine, as it tested positive for traces of cocaine chlorhydrate in the forensic tests that were carried out and whose certification was provided as evidence. This same analysis was carried out on the scales seized, resulting positive.
Investigations into the profile of the accused revealed that he has no license records for carrying and possessing firearms, ammunition or related materials.
Representing the Public Prosecutor’s Office in court, the trial prosecutor Elvin Ventura presented the list of facts contained in the investigation he initiated against the defendant in 2021, in proceedings led by the investigating prosecutor Esmerlin Rodríguez and which revealed De los Santos’ connection to drug trafficking activities and other related crimes.
The 15-year sentence was imposed against the defendant based on the criminal charge of violating articles 4 (letter E) and 75 (paragraph III) of Law 50-88 for Drug Control in the category of sponsors of narcotic substances; in addition, articles 2 (number 6), 3 (numbers 1, 2 and 3, 6 and 7) of Law 155-17 on Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, for the crime of laundering of assets derived from drug trafficking.
He is also charged with violating Articles 66 and 67 of Law 631-16 for the Control and Regulation of Weapons, Ammunition and Related Materials, for carrying ammunition.
The court ordered the confiscation of the property seized during the raid, including the vehicle, electronic equipment, and property immobilized by court order.
The head of the Specialized Anti-Money Laundering and Prosecution Office Financing of Terrorism, Ramona Nova Cabrera, and Santiago Prosecutor Osvaldo Bonilla said the conviction is a demonstration of the frontal fight against money laundering and drug trafficking.
