On Wednesday, a Manhattan court found a former Dominican consul guilty of cocaine trafficking.
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Through a statement, Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that the former Consul General of the Dominican Republic in Jamaica, Jeremías Jiménez Cruz, was sentenced to 179 months in prison “for using his position and contacts in the Government of the Dominican Republic. to import cocaine into the United States.
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According to evidence presented by the prosecution, Jimenez Cruz was a high-ranking government official in the Dominican Republic whose positions included serving as Vice Consul of the Dominican Republic in Frankfurt, Germany from 2004 to 2008. He was also Consul General of the Dominican Republic in Jamaica. , and president of the National Christian Movement.
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He assured that he was half brother of the president
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When he was detained on September 6, 2019 and his first interrogations were carried out, the prosecution said, Jiménez Cruz identified himself as “half brother of the person who was president for two periods of his country.” However, the report does not specify the name of the former president to whom the accused was referring after his arrest. The last presidents have been Leonel Fernández, Hipólito Mejía and Danilo Medina.
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Efe reported that during the investigation, the former diplomat was recorded saying that, with his connections in the government Dominicancould move “up to 600 kilos of cocaine by plane and up to a ton by ship”.
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At trial, the defendant admitted to being “the leader of a network that trafficked more than 50 kilos of cocaine, and that he abused his public position to perpetrate the crime.” He also pleaded guilty to conspiring to import more than five kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
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The former consul had a salary of $2,500
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At the time of his conviction, prosecutor Williams said: “Jeremias Jimenez Cruz abused his position as a government official to import large amounts of cocaine into the United States.”
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According to the payroll of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his country, in 2017, when he was fired, Jiménez Cruz had a salary of US$2,500.00 as a diplomat, in addition to all the benefits that this position entails.
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