United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

NEW YORK WOMAN SENTENCED FOR HEROIN TRAFFICKING

Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that PEGGY DE LA CRUZ, 31, of 655 Burke Avenue, Bronx, New York, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey in New Haven federal court to five years probation and six months of home confinement as a result of her conviction for violating federal narcotics laws. Judge Dorsey departed from the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which called for a sentence of between 33-41 months imprisonment.

DE LA CRUZ was arrested on April 24, 2003, after she and two co-defendants, Jose Fernandez and Alberto Enriquez, delivered one-half of a kilogram of heroin to an undercover agent in a North Haven parking lot. Approximately one week earlier, DE LA CRUZ and another unindicted co-conspirator smuggled the heroin from Aruba to Boston's Logan Airport. The heroin was then transported to New York, where it was kept until it was delivered to the undercover agent in Connecticut. DE LA CRUZ pleaded guilty on September 23, 2003.

On December 18, 2003, Fernandez, 42, of 200 W. 111TH Street, New York, New York, was sentenced by Judge Dorsey to 60 months' imprisonment for his participation in the drug offense, as well as his involvement in a 1995 passport fraud charge arising out of Miami, Florida. In 1995, FERNANDEZ was indicted by a federal grand jury for attempting to fraudulently obtain a U.S. passport in the name of Giovanni Garcia. After Fernandez was released on bond, he fled the Miami jurisdiction and lived in New York under the name William Nazario until he was arrested on the drug charges. On December 23, 2003, Judge Dorsey sentenced Enriquez to 54 months imprisonment.

"Thanks to superb undercover work by federal agents, another heroin distribution network has been disrupted," U.S. Attorney O'Connor stated.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark D. Rubino.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov