Documents show pilot’s alleged plan to smuggle cocaine
HARTFORD — A federal judge has ordered the detention of a pilot who is accused of trying to help smuggle nearly 2 tons of cocaine into the U.S. for a Connecticut drug ring.
Ronier Sanchez, 46, is facing a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine.
On Dec. 14, 2016, Sanchez and three others were indicted by a U.S. grand jury in Bridgeport in connection with the plot.
Authorities allege that between 2015 and 2016, a drug trafficking organization based in Wolcott “was responsible for acquiring and transporting large quantities of cocaine from Venezuela and Colombia.” a filing in federal court states.
The drugs were then flown to Guatemala and Honduras, before portions of the shipments were brought to the U.S. for distribution, prosecutors said.
“The investigation identified Sanchez as one of the organization's illicit aircraft pilots based in Mexico with illicit ties to [drug trafficking organization]'s members and coordinators based in the Dominican Republic and Wolcott, Connecticut,” a prosecutor wrote in a memo seeking Sanchez's detention.
“Sanchez's duties within this drug trafficking organization primarily focused on his role and expertise as a pilot, which would further the [organization's] smuggling routes between Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.”
Vicki Hutchinson, Sanchez's New Fairfield lawyer, said she did not oppose detention during the hearing on Monday. She said the only discovery she has received in the case is the sentencing memo, which she said she was given shortly before her client's appearance in court.
“I don't know if they ever found the drugs, I don't know who owns the plane,” Hutchinson said in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Media Group.
She said her client, who is a citizen of Mexico, has been in custody for one year and four months since his arrest by Paraguayan authorities.
“To me, he appeared
very healthy and mentally clear,” she said, adding that he didn't seem to have any signs of ill treatment.
Hutchinson noted the case is scheduled for trial on Oct. 13 — a date she said felt was “very quick in the time of COVID.”
In July 2016, Sanchez is alleged to have agreed to fly a private jet — serving as co-pilot — loaded down with cocaine from Venezuela to Honduras.
The plan, according to federal court filings, was for Sanchez and the pilot, Rupert De Las Casas, fly from the Dominican Republic to a secret landing strip in Venezuela. To
cover their tracks, the crew filed a fake flight plan reporting the aircraft was headed to Brazil, when it actually was headed for Apure, Venezuela, prosecutors said.
Once at the secret airfield, the group would load between 1,600 and 1,700 kilograms onto the plane, refuel and head to Honduras where the drugs would be loaded onto trucks, prosecutors said.
A third man, the plane's only passenger, would ensure the drugs were properly loaded on the plane during the flight.
The plan went south, however, after the jet made an emergency landing some 50 kilometers shy of the hidden runway.
That alerted Venezuelan authorities to the aircraft's presence — the plane had switched off its transponder shortly after takeoff — who ordered the aircraft be fired on to keep it grounded.
The three men hid in the treeline “until they were ultimately rescued by members of the drug trafficking organization and provided safe passage and escort into Colombia,” the detention memo states. The drugs were also diverted back to Colombia.
After the mishap at the clandestine airstrip, Sanchez disappeared from federal authorities' radar until March 2021 when they learned he was in Paraguay where he was arrested.
“Sanchez contested extradition, but ultimately lost his argument in the Paraguayan Supreme Court and was ordered deported,” the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in its detention memo.
He was brought to the United States with the help of U.S. marshals on Friday.
In a filing ordering Sanchez detained while his case is heard, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish noted he is facing a charge that carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.