Five Men Arrested for Conspiring to Distribute Over 150 Kilograms of Cocaine

Wednesday, October 30, 2024
For Immediate Release: USAO, SDFL

MIAMI – On Oct. 29, five men, Carlos Manuel Velazquez Gomez, 43, David Martinez, 53, Juan Antonio Rivera Velasquez, 45, Onasis Lisandro Garcia, 49, and Richard John Sydney-Smith, 62, had their initial appearances on their respective federal criminal complaints which charge the defendants with conspiring to possess with intent to distribute over 150 kilograms of cocaine.

On Oct. 27, Sydney-Smith and Garcia were traveling on a boat 2 miles east of Port Everglades, when they were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard and found to be transporting over 150 kilograms of cocaine. The investigation further yielded the arrests of Rivera Velasquez, Velazquez Gomez, and Martinez on Oct. 28, who were waiting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. for the cocaine delivery.
Pre-trial detention hearings have been scheduled in these matters for Nov. 1 and Nov. 4.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe and Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Miami, made the announcement.

HSI Miami investigated this case with invaluable assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Air and Marine Units. Assistant U.S. Attorney Latoya C. Brown is prosecuting it. 

A criminal complaint contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.