Santo Domingo.— Carlos Vinicio Fernández Valerio, former director of the Central Anti-Narcotics Directorate (DICAN), was granted parole after serving 10 years of a 20-year prison sentence related to the removal of 950 kilograms of cocaine.
Fernández Valerio had been held at Najayo prison in connection with the DICAN case, a judicial process stemming from an operation conducted in September 2014 at the Michel residential complex in the Isabelita II neighborhood.
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According to the charges filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, 950 kilograms of cocaine were seized during the raid on September 27, 2014, but the drugs were later not reported to the corresponding authorities.
Authorities maintained during the proceedings that the seized shipment was not reported to the National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) or sent to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF).
Fernández Valerio, who held the rank of colonel and served as DICAN director, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for violations of Law 50-88 on Drugs and Controlled Substances, as well as provisions of the Dominican Penal Code related to criminal conspiracy and the falsification of public documents.
In the same proceeding, former Police Major Luciano Gómez Cabrera and former prosecutor Máximo Antonio Díaz Ogando were also sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Former Sergeant Pedro José Almánzar González was sentenced to 15 years, while Félix Humberto Paulino López, Bárbaro Torres Beltrán, Agapito Muñoz Evangelista and former prosecutor Ramón Augusto Veras Castro received 10-year sentences.
The sentence against Fernández Valerio was later upheld on appeal. After that decision, the former DICAN director publicly expressed his disagreement, describing the ruling as “an abuse, a lack of respect and an injustice.”
Fernández Valerio’s parole comes after he served 10 of the 20 years imposed for his participation in the case.
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