4 OF 6 DEFENDANTS WALK WITH PROBATION

Smugglers escape jail sentences

Judge James Turk said if the defendants had been tried in time, he would
have sent them to prison.

Most of the workers in Javier Cruz's smuggling ring walked out of federal
court with probation Friday, despite the fact that they were part of the
biggest drug case ever in Western Virginia.

U.S. District Judge James Turk said if the defendants had been brought to
court in a normal time frame, he would have sent them to prison. Except for
one, the six defendants pleaded guilty to being part of a conspiracy that
transported more than two tons of cocaine through Roanoke in 1990 and '91,
according to the indictments.

"These are serious offenses. You all should serve some time and you would
have if the case had been brought to trial soon after it occurred," Turk
told one. "But there's been such a long waiting period. I'm not criticizing
anyone, because they [drug agents] were trying to catch some higher-ups."

But the judge said Cruz shouldn't expect to get off as easily when Turk
sentences him in July. After a defense attorney suggested that Cruz might
walk out of court a free man because he worked undercover for the Drug
Enforcement Administration, Turk questioned that assumption.

"Why do you think he's going to walk out?" Turk asked. "I can't imagine him
walking out, but maybe so."

The six defendants sentenced Friday were all charged in 1991, but their
cases were put on hold while federal agents worked an undercover
money-laundering investigation. Two were given prison time and four got
probation in hearings that took most of the day.

Because five of them cooperated with the DEA and told what they knew when
they were arrested, they escaped being subject to federal guidelines that
called for sentences of at least 11 years.

"You're getting off mighty easy for the crime you committed," Turk told one
defendant. "Because some people involved in much less than this are serving
30, 40 years."

The indictments against them say Cruz's group transported 2,126 kilograms,
or 4,677 pounds, of cocaine in a six-month period. That much cocaine would
have a wholesale value of more than $30 million.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott said he couldn't honestly argue to the
court that the defendants are a danger to society since they've been free
on bond for seven years and have stayed out of trouble. He did not
recommend a particular sentence for any of them, telling the judge that
most of the defendants had cooperated but that their crimes were serious ones.

Shannon Wilson Perry, 25; Kim Kinsey Richards, 26; and Wendy Gilchrist, 28;
were all put on four years' probation and ordered to do 150 hours of
community service. Perry was also given a $1,500 fine.

The three women met Cruz soon after graduating from high school in Roanoke
and became drivers for him, picking up cocaine out West and making
deliveries to New York. All three have children now and told the judge that
they are the primary caregivers.

"It was the money. The money," Perry explained when asked why she got
involved. "I was 18 years old, staying in the best hotels, eating in the
best restaurants, driving the nicest cars."

Perry said she made $15,000 during her six months working for Cruz and that
she even declared it as income on her tax return.

Cruz's ex-wife, Pamela Cruz, also was sentenced to four years' probation
and ordered to do 150 hours of community service. She was convicted of
conspiracy, along with most of her co-defendants, although she had a less
active role in the operation. She said she was "very, very surprised" after
being arrested in 1991 and learning how much cocaine her husband was
smuggling.

She also said she was afraid her then-husband, who was hiding out in
Roanoke as a fugitive from a North Carolina murder charge, would kill her
and take their two children to his native Colombia. One of their sons,
14-year-old Alexander, accompanied her to court Friday, sobbing as
witnesses for his mother told the judge how she had turned her life around
since being arrested.

Pamela Cruz and nearly every other defendant in the case has said that Cruz
put a gun to their heads or threatened to kill them at various times to
keep quiet or do what he wanted. But DEA Special Agent Don Lincoln, who was
Cruz's handler during his undercover activity, downplayed Cruz's
dangerousness on the stand.

Lincoln and Mott said testimony about Cruz threatening his workers may have
been made up in an effort to excuse their involvement after Cruz's history
of violence was reported in the press.

"None of this came up till the fictional series in the local newspaper,"
Lincoln testified.

But defense attorney John Acree, representing Gene Kinsey, said Cruz, a
convicted killer, deserved blame.

"Mr. Cruz is exactly what Mr. Mott says," Acree said. "Mr. Cruz is the
boogeyman incarnate."

Gene Kinsey, Kim Kinsey Richards' father, was sentenced to 26 months in
prison and a $2,500 fine, even though he was the least involved in the
conspiracy. Both sides agree that Kinsey drove a camper to Phoenix in 1990
and picked up Cruz' first shipment of cocaine in the conspiracy but then
refused to participate again.

The government contends Kinsey was paid $10,000 to do it. Kinsey, 50,
angered Turk after the judge accused him of lying on the stand. Kinsey
denied getting any money and said he didn't know there was cocaine in the
camper.

"You'd have been better off telling the truth," Turk said.

Kinsey's charge had been reduced from conspiracy to knowing about a felony
and not reporting it, a reduction Turk questioned.

"I don't think the government ever should have agreed to" the lesser
charge, Turk said. But Kinsey's attorney said prosecutors had no evidence,
other than Cruz's word, that Kinsey was paid.

Earl Richard Wilson, 48, also was sentenced to prison for driving for Cruz.
Turk gave him 22 months to serve and a $2,000 fine, even though he had
cooperated with the government. Unlike the teen-agers, Wilson, who is
Shannon Perry's father, was old enough to know better when he got involved,
Turk said.

Three more defendants will be sentenced in June and July. Another
defendant's case is on appeal, after Turk threw out the charges because the
government waited too long to bring them.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski