Daniel Pinna
Lehder’s Ex-Wife, Co-Defendants Sentenced
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) _ The ex-wife of convicted cocaine kingpin Carlos Lehder Rivas was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine in the so-called ″Son of Lehder″ case.
Yemel Nacel, 34, of New York City was one of nine people who pleaded guilty in September before U.S. District Judge John H. Moore II. Five were sentenced Wednesday.
″I’m truly sorry for whatever involvement I had in the cocaine business,″ she told the judge. ″My marriage to Carlos Lehder was not as it may seem. I was trying to be a good wife and it mainly exposed me to most of what has happened.″
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ernst Mueller, the lead prosecutor, said Ms. Nacel, who faced up to 15 years imprisonment, had cooperated fully. He recommended a prison term of five years or less.
″I have no doubt that her original involvement with Carlos Lehder was due to romance and not other reasons, in fact I think she still has some love for the man,″ Mueller said.
The case is called ″Son of Lehder″ because it grew out of a 7 -month trial that resulted in Lehder, 39, receiving a life sentence with no chance of parole. He is being held in isolation at the maximum-security prison in Marion, Ill.
In the agreement, Ms. Nacel pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. The government charged that Lehder continued to arrange cocaine transactions from his cell through his ex- wife while awaiting his Jacksonville trial in 1987.
Ms. Nacel married Lehder in 1977 in Toronto. The couple divorced about three years later in Haiti.
Co-defendant John Lee Moller, 45, of Jupiter was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $50,000 for possession with intent to distribute at least one kilogram of cocaine and one tax evasion charge from California.
Moller, who could have received 20 years, will remain incarcerated until he receives a prison assignment. He agreed to forfeit more than $1 million in real estate and money to the government.
Richard James Barile, a defendant accused of being instrumental in distributing large amounts of cocaine for Lehder in California in the 1970s, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years and fined $20,000 on his conspiracy plea.
San Diego attorney and businessman Pat Passenheim, 42, was sentenced to six months in jail and a $20,000 fine, and urban planner Stanley E. ″Ned″ Jaros, 44, of Honolulu got a sentence of two years.
The five must report Jan. 3 to start serving their sentences, except for Moller, who is in custody.
Sixteen others remain fugitives in the case, including the leaders of Colombia’s Medellin cartel, who are listed on a most-wanted list of drug kingpins sought by the Justice Department.
They include Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jose Gonzalo Rodriquez Gacha, Jorge Ochoa Vasquez and Fabio Ochoa Vasquez.
Also indicted in the case was fugitive U.S. financier Robert Vesco, who is living in Cuba, and Everette William Bannister, a close associate of Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling.
- The Associated Press released the previous article on November 29th 1989.
Yemel Nacel, 34, of New York City was one of nine people who pleaded guilty in September before U.S. District Judge John H. Moore II. Five were sentenced Wednesday.
″I’m truly sorry for whatever involvement I had in the cocaine business,″ she told the judge. ″My marriage to Carlos Lehder was not as it may seem. I was trying to be a good wife and it mainly exposed me to most of what has happened.″
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ernst Mueller, the lead prosecutor, said Ms. Nacel, who faced up to 15 years imprisonment, had cooperated fully. He recommended a prison term of five years or less.
″I have no doubt that her original involvement with Carlos Lehder was due to romance and not other reasons, in fact I think she still has some love for the man,″ Mueller said.
The case is called ″Son of Lehder″ because it grew out of a 7 -month trial that resulted in Lehder, 39, receiving a life sentence with no chance of parole. He is being held in isolation at the maximum-security prison in Marion, Ill.
In the agreement, Ms. Nacel pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. The government charged that Lehder continued to arrange cocaine transactions from his cell through his ex- wife while awaiting his Jacksonville trial in 1987.
Ms. Nacel married Lehder in 1977 in Toronto. The couple divorced about three years later in Haiti.
Co-defendant John Lee Moller, 45, of Jupiter was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $50,000 for possession with intent to distribute at least one kilogram of cocaine and one tax evasion charge from California.
Moller, who could have received 20 years, will remain incarcerated until he receives a prison assignment. He agreed to forfeit more than $1 million in real estate and money to the government.
Richard James Barile, a defendant accused of being instrumental in distributing large amounts of cocaine for Lehder in California in the 1970s, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years and fined $20,000 on his conspiracy plea.
San Diego attorney and businessman Pat Passenheim, 42, was sentenced to six months in jail and a $20,000 fine, and urban planner Stanley E. ″Ned″ Jaros, 44, of Honolulu got a sentence of two years.
The five must report Jan. 3 to start serving their sentences, except for Moller, who is in custody.
Sixteen others remain fugitives in the case, including the leaders of Colombia’s Medellin cartel, who are listed on a most-wanted list of drug kingpins sought by the Justice Department.
They include Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Jose Gonzalo Rodriquez Gacha, Jorge Ochoa Vasquez and Fabio Ochoa Vasquez.
Also indicted in the case was fugitive U.S. financier Robert Vesco, who is living in Cuba, and Everette William Bannister, a close associate of Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden O. Pindling.
- The Associated Press released the previous article on November 29th 1989.
