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NewsWhore
05-05-2011, 04:00 PM
Sobeida Felix Morel, known lover of Puerto Rican drug capo Jose Figueroa Agosto, has declared herself guilty of the asset laundering charges presented by the state prosecutors. She said the others accused in the case were also responsible. Figueroa Agosto is standing trial for terrorism, homicide and other serious crimes in Puerto Rico. The US Marshal Service described him as "the Pablo Escobar of the Caribbean".

The accused in the case together with Felix Morel are Eddy Brito, Mary Pelaez Frappier, Sammy Dauhajre, Juan Jose Fernandez Ibarra, Ivanovich Smester Ginebra, Adolfina Pelaez Frappier and Madeline Bernard Pena.

Morel was testifying before judges Gissel Mendez, Yuli Tamariz and Tania Yunes of the First Civil Court. As reported in El Dia, she said the accused acted as fronts to purchase assets for Figueroa Agosto, also known as Christian Almonte. She said that the group met frequently in the Arroyo Hondo house that Mary Pelaez had purchased for Figueroa Agosto. She said in court that Figueroa Agosto had also purchased apartment 1132 of the Ocean One complex in Cabarete using Mary Pelaez as a front.

In the court hearing she also revealed that several hours after the raid on apartments 14B and 15B of the Alco Paradisus luxury high-rise apartment building on 3 September, Figueroa Agosto was in frequent communication with three of the accused, Sammy Dauhajre, Ivanovich Smester and Juan Jose Ibarra.

She said that after Figueroa's spectacular escape, they all met on Avenida Anacaona together with the late colonel Jose Amado Gonzalez (who was subsequently murdered, on 24 December 2009) and Figueroa Agosto asked her to get the Mercedes Benz SUV where money was stashed. The former officer was to have given her the key, but this did not happen, and then she returned to the building where enforcement agents were waiting under the command of Colonel Familia. The authorities found US$4.6 million in the vehicle.

She said that once Figueroa Agosto was in Puerto Rico and she was in jail, the Puerto Rican sent US$50,000 to Sammy Dauhajre, Ivanovich Smester and Ibarra to guarantee her comforts in the Najayo jail in San Cristobal. She said the capo also sent US$300,000 and US$250,000 in cash for the payment of bail and supposedly "to pay some money to the National District prosecutor." She said they did not carry out these actions.

Felix Morel argued that the accused did not know that Christian Almonte was Figueroa Agosto. She said, however, that the person who had given her a National Department of Investigations (DNI) ID card knew about the drug trafficker's dual identity.

"There are also military figures and other people who knew the identity of Figueroa Agosto, but I will reveal this in due course," she said in court yesterday.

As reported in El Dia she said that most of the assets were purchased through Mary Pelaez and transactions were carried out through the exchange house of Hermanos Solano and Electroamerica.

Felix Morel also declared in court that Figueroa Agosto held meeting with people from Puerto Rico in one of the houses confiscated by the National District prosecutors in Arroyo Hondo. She said that they included Angel Ayala Vasquez (Angelo Millones), Marrero Martell, Elvin Torres Estrada (Munecon), her husband Eddy Brito and others.

The defense lawyer for Pelaez and Dauhajre, Jose Rafael Ariza said that the statements made by Felix Morel followed a script prepared by the Prosecutor General. He confirmed that Eddy Brito, Sammy Dauhaujre and Juan Alejandro Ibarra had sold vehicles to Figueroa Agosto and said he had been present at some of the sales.

Sobeida went on to mention that Elvin Torres, on trial in Puerto Rico for drug trafficking, had purchased a Ferrari from Gamal Hache, owner of the Sofia Restaurant, where Figueroa Agosto used to meet with several accused in the network, as reported in Diario Libre. She said in court that Angelo Millones purchased an apartment at the Avenida Bolivar tower and later sold it to another Puerto Rican who is on trial for drug trafficking in Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, National District prosecutor, Alejandro Moscoso Segarra confirmed the negotiations between the Prosecutor General and Sobeida Felix Morel and Leavy Nin Batista, Jose David Figueroa Agosto's lover and wife respectively. Both are accused of asset laundering. Moscoso said they would both remain in jail because they are both important figures for identifying others implicated in the Puerto Rican's drug network. He said that there is an extradition order for Eddy Brito.

El Nacional reported last Friday that Felix Morel may have negotiated a five-year prison sentence with conditional release after two-and-a-half years and the same for Leavy Nin Batista. Lawyer Jose Rafael Ariza, representing Mary Pelaez, Sammy Dauhajre and Adolfina Pelaez said that as a result charges would be reduced for all accused of asset laundering.

District prosecutor Alejandro Moscoso confirmed there had been an agreement with Felix Morel. "We are in an important process that will benefit the entire penal justice system. The two women and the remaining accused will be convicted, and also other people who have not been included in the case". He said that a number of individuals, who have not yet been arrested, including military officials, could be requested in extradition by the United States. Sobeida Felix, as reported in Listin Diario, said she would give details on these new individuals if they were included in the formal case.

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