Hey, there! Log in / Register
Woman charged with trying to fly five pounds of cocaine into Boston - along with her young son
By adamg on Mon, 09/14/2015 - 1:02pm
A Dominican living in Virginia was arraigned today on charges she tried bringing some five pounds of cocaine in her suitcase lining through customs at Logan Airport earlier this summer - while on a trip with her 5-year-old son.
At her arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court today, Cesarina Guzman Batista, 29, was ordered held in lieu of the $200,000 bail originally set for her when she was arrested at Logan after getting off a JetBlue flight from Santo Domingo on July 3. The state has placed her son with a foster family.
According to Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Macy Lee, Batista and her son were in customs when an agent thought an empty suitcase she had seemed unusually heavy. Lee told customs agents she was a time-share agent and was in Boston to visit her boyfriend for a night, but that he was not meeting her there, nor would she be staying with him - she said she'd rented a room at a nearby Comfort Inn because she "enjoys her personal space," Lee said.
When the agent X-rayed the suitcase, the image showed an unusual shape in the lining; when agents opened the suitcase, they noticed "non-factory" screws and a strong odor of glue. The lining, Lee continued, had a package of a white, powdery substance, which tested positive for cocaine.
Batista is scheduled to return to court Oct. 22 for a pre-trial conference. If convicted on the charge of possession of more than 200 grams of cocaine with intent to distribute, she would face a mandatory sentence of 12 to 20 years in state prison.
Innocent, etc.
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
I'm curious why this case is
I'm curious why this case is being handled by the state instead of federal prosecutors. Isn't this a customs violation that would be a federal crime, instead of a state issue?
Perhaps due to a child involved?
Do the feds have their own DCF?
Probably some jurisdiction issue
They have all worked out their turf, and this side of customs goes to the state police.
Cocaine should always be
Cocaine should always be measured in units of kilograms not pounds. isn't that the reason we have the metric system?
Please
Yes, she's facing a charge of possession of 200 or more grams of cocaine with intent to distribute.
That having been said, tough. For better or worse, we don't use the metric system in everyday life here and "five pounds" is more immediately grasped by most us us than "two kilograms."
Or as Garda Sargeant Gerry Boyle would say
Was 2.26 kilos even in 1969, not 5 Lbs.
End result?
So what was the out come? court date Oct. 22?