AUGUSTA, GA: Edmund A. Booth, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, announced today that Severo Sanchez Delatorre, a resident alien living in Houston, Texas prior to his arrest in the instant case, was sentenced to 21 years 8 months imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen, Jr. in U.S. District Court in Augusta. The Court also ordered that Delatorre be placed on supervised release for a term of five years, and pay a fine of $25,000.

On November 17, 2006, Delatorre was convicted by a federal jury of Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess With Intent to Distribute Five Kilograms or More of Cocaine Hydrochloride (Powder Cocaine) in violation of Title 21 United States Code Sections 846, and 841(b)(1)(A). At sentencing, Judge Bowen found that Defendant Delatorre was involved in conspiring to distribute at least 71 kilograms of cocaine during the course of the conspiracy. Judge Bowen also found that Delatorre perjured himself during the trial, warranting a sentence enhancement for obstruction of justice.

Booth noted that Delatorre’s conviction was the most recent of more than fifteen federal drug convictions obtained during the course of an extensive investigation spanning several years and utilizing the combined efforts of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, the Columbia County Sheriffs’ Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the United States Marshal Service.

The evidence at trial showed that Severo Delatorre was operating a cocaine smuggling ring that imported large quantities of powder cocaine from Mexico to Houston, Texas. From Houston, the cocaine was distributed throughout the United States. Willie Brown, who was based out of Florida, but rented property from Delatorre in Houston, coordinated the distribution of the cocaine from Texas to, among other places, New York City, Pittsburgh, and Augusta. Brown’s Augusta-based distributor was Dorothy Hall. The evidence showed that Hall, in turn, distributed the cocaine to numerous Augusta-area drug dealers. Brown, Hall, and several of the couriers who transported the cocaine to Augusta from Houston by airplane and car, were convicted of federal cocaine conspiracy charges in September 2004. The following year, under a separate federal indictment, numerous other Augusta-area drug dealers identified during the investigation were also convicted of federal drugrelated charges.

Booth commended the dedication and service of the federal and local law enforcement officers who worked on this case over the past several years. Booth stated that this case was federally prosecuted as part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program. The OCDETF program’s mandate is to identify, target, investigate, prosecute and dismantle those drug trafficking organizations that have the greatest adverse impact on communities. OCDETF cases target major drug trafficking operations responsible for the distribution of large quantities of narcotics, and involve federal, state and local law enforcement members working together, across jurisdictional boundaries, in a cooperative, coordinated and sustained manner.

The Government was represented at Severo Delatorre’s trial and sentencing hearing by Assistant United States Attorney Nancy C. Greenwood.