PORTLAND, Maine — A Florida man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for an oxycodone trafficking conspiracy in Maine, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Conley.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen imposed the sentence on Steven Jimenez, 30, of Melbourne, Fla., at a hearing in federal court in Portland. Jimenez pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to distribute and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone in the Camden and Rockland areas.
“The guideline range was from 151 to 188 months’ imprisonment and we got 120,” said Conley. “We think that’s an appropriate sentence, given his criminal history, the amount of pills involved, and the scope of the offense.”
According to evidence submitted by the prosecution, Jimenez mailed about 36 packages containing oxycodone from Florida to a co-conspirator — Niraja Beram, 60, of Warren — in Rockland over a 10-month period from May 2011 to February 2012.
Beram would then further distribute the pills in Maine. The total number of pills Jimenez mailed from Florida exceeded 3,000. One intercepted package contained 257 30-milligram oxycodone pills.
“It’s absolutely unique and something I haven’t come across before because in this case the informant was actually working both sides,” Conley explained. “He was providing information to law enforcement officials while also sending pills to Maine behind their backs.”
According to court documents filed by Conley and Delahanty, Jimenez sent Beram oxycodone pills in February without the knowledge of any law enforcement officials to set up Beram.
Conley said he expects Beram, who cooperated with law enforcement after being arrested in January, to be sentenced later this month. Conley said after Beram’s arrest that agents learned about Jimenez’ double dealing.
“They found Jimenez on her phone list and from that were able to deduce that he was attempting to set her up,” Conley said.
U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II and Conley said the successful prosecution of this case was based on the cooperative investigative efforts of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Palm Bay, Fla., Police Department.
keep huntin’ them down!
3000 Oxys ?? Whooooa !
Good thing it wasnt pot , cause we all know how bad pot is.
Need to go after the Florida doctors writing all these prescriptions
Yeah, I’ve seen documentaries on how they have “Pain clinics” in Florida and you get seen by a doctor, and you pay cash for the whole prescription. Its just drug dealers with a prescription pad basically..
Nothing new, either, been going on for ten years or so. For some reason I have a suspicion that the yokels in FL are making a whole bunch of money from all that — MDs, nurses, office help, drug stores, local cops and judges maybe — and the state has done zilch to put the squash on it. Just saying.
Exactly. I think oxy’s should be banned by the FDA until medical practitioners are held responsible for the drug’s dispensation, as it seems to be out of control. They are not one bit better than the drug seller on the corner of any city street. In my mind, they are worse. So much for the hippocratic oath…
Any relation to Jose Jiminez? No? Okay, ten years ought to hold him. Seems to me a bit odd that the guy who mailed the pills from FL gets 10 years and all this hoopla, but the ‘co-conspirator’ who literally received and sold the drugs in Maine don’t even get mentioned by name. Is he or she even in jail or going to jail? Okay, what got left out this time?
Here’s a link (as provided in the above article) to the co-conspirator who as you put it, don’t even get mentioned by name, although she was mentioned by (last) name.
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/01/31/news/court/federal-agents-claim-warren-woman-imported-drugs-for-two-years-before-arrest/
Hope you aren’t too confused.
The devil, you say? Likely no more ‘confused’ than anyone else, buddy rough.
I bet that he and Porter are gonna get along real nice:)
120 months is better than the Florida Firefighter who was driving the pills here and then shot and left in the woods. But now while Mr Jimenez does his time in jail and is outed as a narc he may never get back to Florida again. He may want to consider asking for PC. Good Luck in prison with criminals who may not play nice with you. Crime doesn’t always pay but neither does playing both sides.
I still think Allens Coffee Brandy will make you just as stupid as any pill can. People choose to get stupid in different ways but it is all the same in the end. Some dealers go to jail and some dealers (like Allens) get rich. There is no common sense in our intoxication policies but it fills our jails with non violent people (the best kind of prisoner for wardens).