Guyanese jailed in US for cocaine trafficking

Last Updated on Thursday, 28 September 2023, 14:47 by Denis Chabrol

NEWARK, N.J. – A Guyanese citizen was sentenced Thursday to 60 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to import drugs into the United States, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Dennis Edwards, aka “Death,” 38, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiring to import over 20 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. Judge Hillman imposed the sentence today in Camden federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

In 2012, Edwards was part of a criminal conspiracy that arranged to import cocaine into the United States via cruise ship. Edwards was arrested on Nov. 14, 2022, when he arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport after having been deported from the Dominican Republic.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hillman sentenced Edwards to three years of supervised release.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Kurtz; deputies of the U.S. Marshals Service, under the direction of U.S. Marshal Juan Mattos, Jr., and officers with Customs and Border Protection, New York Field Office, under the direction of Director of Field Operations Francis J. Russo, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. U.S. Attorney Sellinger thanked the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs for its substantial assistance in the investigation. He also thanked officials in the Dominican Republic for their assistance.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachelle M. Navarro of the Criminal Division in Newark.