Source: Roanoke Times Contact: http://www.roanoke.com/ Pubdate: Saturday, May 16, 1998 Author: Jan Vertefeuille 4 OF 6 DEFENDANTS WALK WITH PROBATION Smugglers escape jail sentences Judge James Turk said if the defendants had been tried in time, he would have sent them to prison. Most of the workers in Javier Cruz's smuggling ring walked out of federal court with probation Friday, despite the fact that they were part of the biggest drug case ever in Western Virginia. U.S. District Judge James Turk said if the defendants had been brought to court in a normal time frame, he would have sent them to prison. Except for one, the six defendants pleaded guilty to being part of a conspiracy that transported more than two tons of cocaine through Roanoke in 1990 and '91, according to the indictments. "These are serious offenses. You all should serve some time and you would have if the case had been brought to trial soon after it occurred," Turk told one. "But there's been such a long waiting period. I'm not criticizing anyone, because they [drug agents] were trying to catch some higher-ups." But the judge said Cruz shouldn't expect to get off as easily when Turk sentences him in July. After a defense attorney suggested that Cruz might walk out of court a free man because he worked undercover for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Turk questioned that assumption. "Why do you think he's going to walk out?" Turk asked. "I can't imagine him walking out, but maybe so." The six defendants sentenced Friday were all charged in 1991, but their cases were put on hold while federal agents worked an undercover money-laundering investigation. Two were given prison time and four got probation in hearings that took most of the day. Because five of them cooperated with the DEA and told what they knew when they were arrested, they escaped being subject to federal guidelines that called for sentences of at least 11 years. "You're getting off mighty easy for the crime you committed," Turk told one defendant. "Because some people involved in much less than this are serving 30, 40 years." The indictments against them say Cruz's group transported 2,126 kilograms, or 4,677 pounds, of cocaine in a six-month period. That much cocaine would have a wholesale value of more than $30 million. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott said he couldn't honestly argue to the court that the defendants are a danger to society since they've been free on bond for seven years and have stayed out of trouble. He did not recommend a particular sentence for any of them, telling the judge that most of the defendants had cooperated but that their crimes were serious ones. Shannon Wilson Perry, 25; Kim Kinsey Richards, 26; and Wendy Gilchrist, 28; were all put on four years' probation and ordered to do 150 hours of community service. Perry was also given a $1,500 fine. The three women met Cruz soon after graduating from high school in Roanoke and became drivers for him, picking up cocaine out West and making deliveries to New York. All three have children now and told the judge that they are the primary caregivers. "It was the money. The money," Perry explained when asked why she got involved. "I was 18 years old, staying in the best hotels, eating in the best restaurants, driving the nicest cars." Perry said she made $15,000 during her six months working for Cruz and that she even declared it as income on her tax return. Cruz's ex-wife, Pamela Cruz, also was sentenced to four years' probation and ordered to do 150 hours of community service. She was convicted of conspiracy, along with most of her co-defendants, although she had a less active role in the operation. She said she was "very, very surprised" after being arrested in 1991 and learning how much cocaine her husband was smuggling. She also said she was afraid her then-husband, who was hiding out in Roanoke as a fugitive from a North Carolina murder charge, would kill her and take their two children to his native Colombia. One of their sons, 14-year-old Alexander, accompanied her to court Friday, sobbing as witnesses for his mother told the judge how she had turned her life around since being arrested. Pamela Cruz and nearly every other defendant in the case has said that Cruz put a gun to their heads or threatened to kill them at various times to keep quiet or do what he wanted. But DEA Special Agent Don Lincoln, who was Cruz's handler during his undercover activity, downplayed Cruz's dangerousness on the stand. Lincoln and Mott said testimony about Cruz threatening his workers may have been made up in an effort to excuse their involvement after Cruz's history of violence was reported in the press. "None of this came up till the fictional series in the local newspaper," Lincoln testified. But defense attorney John Acree, representing Gene Kinsey, said Cruz, a convicted killer, deserved blame. "Mr. Cruz is exactly what Mr. Mott says," Acree said. "Mr. Cruz is the boogeyman incarnate." Gene Kinsey, Kim Kinsey Richards' father, was sentenced to 26 months in prison and a $2,500 fine, even though he was the least involved in the conspiracy. Both sides agree that Kinsey drove a camper to Phoenix in 1990 and picked up Cruz' first shipment of cocaine in the conspiracy but then refused to participate again. The government contends Kinsey was paid $10,000 to do it. Kinsey, 50, angered Turk after the judge accused him of lying on the stand. Kinsey denied getting any money and said he didn't know there was cocaine in the camper. "You'd have been better off telling the truth," Turk said. Kinsey's charge had been reduced from conspiracy to knowing about a felony and not reporting it, a reduction Turk questioned. "I don't think the government ever should have agreed to" the lesser charge, Turk said. But Kinsey's attorney said prosecutors had no evidence, other than Cruz's word, that Kinsey was paid. Earl Richard Wilson, 48, also was sentenced to prison for driving for Cruz. Turk gave him 22 months to serve and a $2,000 fine, even though he had cooperated with the government. Unlike the teen-agers, Wilson, who is Shannon Perry's father, was old enough to know better when he got involved, Turk said. Three more defendants will be sentenced in June and July. Another defendant's case is on appeal, after Turk threw out the charges because the government waited too long to bring them. - --- Checked-by: Mike Gogulski