A New York man has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for a drug-trafficking scheme that involved the shipping of cocaine from Puerto Rico to multiple addresses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island via the U.S. Postal Service, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Felix Baez Munoz, 35, pleaded guilty in September 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.
According to prosecutors, Baez Munoz was a “drug and money courier” for an organization that used the postal service to ship “dozens of parcels containing kilograms of cocaine” that were allegedly sold to communities in parts of New England.
The drug organization hid the cocaine “inside innocuous consumer goods, such as air fryers” before mailing it to addresses in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Federal agents began investigating the alleged drug trafficking organization in early 2020.
From February of that year until May 2021, the organization transported between 10 and 20 kilograms (approximately 22 to 44 pounds) of cocaine from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, and eventually to Massachusetts via the U.S. Mail, prosecutors said.
Baez Munoz was stopped by federal agents in May 2020 when traveling from Massachusetts to New York. After searching his bag, investigators recovered nearly $390,000 of “suspected drug proceeds.”
In May 2021, he was one of nine individuals charged with drug offenses in the “wide-ranging drug trafficking conspiracy.” He pleaded guilty in September 2024.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV sentenced Baez Munoz to 46 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Patrick Joseph, identified as the “manager” of the criminal organization, pleaded guilty in March 2024 and was later sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.