SANTO DOMINGO.- After accepting the full plea agreements established in the legal regulations, a court in San Pedro de Macorís sentenced two members of a dismantled transnational drug trafficking and money laundering network prosecuted by the Public Ministry to five years in prison.
Aníbal Fiorentino Rondón (Súper) and Pamela Violeta Astacio Ramón (Melvin Gato), who admitted their criminal responsibility in the case presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, were sentenced by Judge Andrea E. Corcino Cueto, of the Instruction Court of the Judicial District of San Pedro de Macorís.
The decisions, contained in judgments numbers 341-2026-SSEN-00245 and 341-2026-SSEN-00244, declare the defendants guilty of violating articles 4-C, 5-B, 6-A, 60, 75, paragraph I, and 85 letters A, B, and C, of Law No. 50-88 on Drugs and Controlled Substances, as well as article 2, numeral 26, article 3, numerals 1, 2, and 3, article 4, numeral 8, and article 9, numerals 1 and 2 of Law No. 155-17 against Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.
The court also imposed on Fiorentino Rondón the payment of a fine of two hundred and fifty (250) minimum wages and on Astacio Ramón the payment of forty (40) minimum wages, both in favor of the Dominican State, in addition to ordering the forfeiture of the money and frozen assets, in national and foreign currency, along with their respective interest.
The agreements were presented to the court by the court prosecutor Ramona Nova Cabrera, head of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, together with the prosecuting attorney José Manuel Calzado, and Luis Alberto García Hernández and Pedro Medina Quezada, prosecutors assigned to that office, representing the Dominican State.
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Both defendants were part of the transnational criminal structure coordinated by Yunior Santos Restrepo, dedicated to the introduction of cocaine shipments through the country’s east coast and their subsequent shipment to North American and European territory, as well as the placement of the profits generated by those activities into the national financial system, in a period that spanned from the year 2013 to the year 2023.
According to the indictment, Fiorentino Rondón received, transported, and delivered money derived from drug trafficking through remittances, transfers, and couriers, using the personal information of close relatives to disguise the origin of the funds.
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The financial investigation determined that the defendant received eight hundred seven thousand two hundred eighty-six Dominican pesos and forty-five cents (RD$807,286.45) and sixty-six thousand forty-seven US dollars and nineteen cents (USD$66,047.19) through the formal financial system, without any economic activity to justify it.
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Regarding Astacio Ramón, of Dominican and American nationality, it was established that he received money in the United States from drug sales and transferred it in a stratified manner to the Dominican Republic. Between the years 2020 and 2024, he moved eight million three hundred fifty-seven thousand three hundred forty-three Dominican pesos and eight cents (RD$8,357,343.08), without economic, labor, or commercial justification, and continued collaborating with Santos Restrepo even after the latter’s incarceration.
In the case of Astacio Ramón, the court also ordered the forfeiture in favor of the Dominican State of a Honda vehicle, model CR-V EX 4×2, year 2018, as well as a set of garments and jewelry acquired with funds of illicit origin, among which are: watches, bracelets, chains, rings, and earrings described in the decision.
These convictions are in addition to those previously handed down against Yunior Santos Restrepo and Yohan Altagracia Reyes Ruiz, to twelve (12) and five (5) years in prison, respectively, within the framework of the progressive dismantling of the aforementioned criminal organization.
The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing reiterated its commitment to firmly pursue structures that use the national financial system to introduce resources of illicit origin and to seek the forfeiture of goods and assets linked to those activities.
