Puerto Rican Man Wanted In Tampa On Cocaine Charge Arrested At C.E.K. Airport

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A Puerto Rican man who mailed 4.4 pounds of cocaine to himself in Tampa by the U.S. mail was arrested at the St. Thomas airport over the weekend, authorities said.

Juan Marrero, alias “Juan Marrero-Sanchez,” 24, appeared Monday before Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller for an advice of rights hearing on the cocaine conspiracy charges filed in Florida, Gretchen C.F. Shappert said today.

Marrero was arrested on Saturday at the Cyril E. King Airport as he attempted to board his JetBlue flight to San Juan.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Miller detained Marrero pending further proceedings.

According to court documents, Marrero, along with eight co-conspirators, were indicted on September 6, 2019, in the Middle District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – AUGUST 12: U.S. Postal Service worker Magda Aguirre places mail into a sorting machine at the U.S. Post Office sort center on August 12, 2011 in San Francisco, California. The U.S. Postal Service is proposing to lay off 120,000 workers in order to deal with an $8.5 billion loss this year that has the agency close to insolvency. The layoffs, if approved by Congress, would take place over the next three years. In addition to layoffs, the Postal Service also wants to eliminate 100,000 jobs through attrition. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The charge stems from the seizure of a U.S. Postal package in April 2018 that was addressed to Marrero, and destined for the address located at 4028 Falkenburg Road in Tampa, Florida.

A search of the postal package revealed that it contained two kilograms of cocaine.

Following the seizure of the package, agents conducted a search in the Florida DMV and discovered that Marrerro had a Florida Driver’s License with the same listed address of 4028 N. Falkenburg Road.

Agents subsequently seized four additional U.S. Postal packages containing a total of 12 kilograms of cocaine that were tied to Marrerro.

This case is being investigated by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Delia L. Smith.

Shappert said that a criminal information is merely a formal charging document and is not in and of itself evidence of guilt.

“Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty,” she said.