CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A Dominican man who tried to evade scrutiny of his illegal drug trafficking operation by using the offline app WhatsApp got nearly three years in prison from a federal judge.
Tommy Ramirez, 32, originally from the Dominican Republic and residing in St. Thomas, was sentenced
to 33 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert said.
According to Ramirez’s plea agreement and other court documents, from January to February of
2018, Ramirez, a multi-kilogram cocaine trafficker, conspired with others to distribute cocaine
using WhatsApp, a cellular telephone communication application. He operated through numerous
text messages that were seized as part of the federal investigation.
The discovered text messages contained communications regarding quantity, pricing, and pictures of the to-be trafficked cocaine.
Further, the investigation revealed that the defendant and others coordinated the delivery of
between 400 and 500 grams of cocaine in St. Thomas.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF)
investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers,
money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States
by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths
of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
