JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Five people were sentenced Friday for their roles in an international drug trafficking conspiracy dubbed Operation Sooner or Later.
The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force operation targeted international cocaine trafficking from Mexico to Florida, and oxycodone trafficking from Florida to Kentucky.
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Of the 47, indicted under this investigation, 41have been apprehended and convicted. Five of the final individuals were sentenced over the previous two weeks.
Three individuals -- Freddie Valentine (37, Jacksonville -- 13 years and three months in federal prison), Francisco Avila-Carrillo (24, Sinaloa, Mexico, and Ocala -- 10 years in federal prison), and Tavaris Rembert (32, Ocala -- four years in federal prison) were sentenced on charges emanating from conspiracy to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. Two others -- Yosvani Rodriguez-Padron (40, Ocala) and Florencio Cisneros (47, Ocala) were sentenced to six years and two months in federal prison, respectively, for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.
Operation Sooner or Later began in March 2010, in Ocala. The investigation revealed that Francisco Avila-Carrillo and Ernesto Avila-Carrillo were part of a drug trafficking group that obtained large quantities of cocaine from various sources of supply, including a network of Mexican cocaine distributors. That cocaine was then redistributed from locations in Marion County to cocaine traffickers in Ocala, Jacksonville, Tampa and south Georgia.
From 2007 through 2009, Valentine worked, at various times, with Rembert and others to obtain amounts of up to 15 kilograms of cocaine from Francisco Avila-Carrillo for re-distribution in Marion, Putnam and Duval counties. In late 2009, Valentine was sentenced for violation of his federal probation and introduced co-conspirator Pernell Singleton (previously sentenced to 41 months in federal prison) to Francisco Avila-Carrillo for the purpose of continuing the Jacksonville end of the cocaine distribution.
In late June 2010, Francisco Avila-Carrillo, Singleton and other co-conspirators were arrested and Francisco Avila-Carrillo and Valentine admitted to having distributed in excess of 150 kilograms of cocaine during the previous two years.
The investigation also revealed that in March 2010, Francisco Avila-Carrillo and Florencio Cisneros worked together to obtain between 1,000 and 3,000 oxycodone pills (30 mg) from Yosvani Rodriguez-Padron and another supplier. The prices of the pills ranged from $6.70 to $8 each. Cisneros then redistributed those pills to other oxycodone dealers in Kentucky for between $11 and $15 per pill. The amount of pills involved in the conspiracy totaled between 7,000 and 9,000.
This operation resulted in the seizure of $1.1 million dollars in cash, more than $750,000 worth of real property, vehicles valued at more than $200,000, and 45 firearms. It was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney A. Tysen Duva.