SMALLTIME DEALER GETS LIFE TERM

by Jim Smith, Daily News Staff Writer

Another gopher prosecutors say middleman in the Philadelphia drug
trade was jailed this week for life without chance of parole. U.S. District
Judge Charles R. Weiner had no option.

A life sentence was mandatory because prosecutors declined to seek even the
smallest measure of leniency for the defendant, David Padilla, 30, formerly
of Franklin Street near Cumberland.

Padilla was arrested a year ago for driving a van that contained 12
kilograms of cocaine, worth about $120,000. The father of two had two prior
federal convictions for drugselling.

The two earlier drug busts marked him as a "career offender." "No one can
overstate the ruinous impact of drugs on this community," U.S. Attorney
Michael R. Stiles said yesterday, explaining why he declined to show any
mercy.

"There are very stiff federal sentences that try to tell . . . everyone
that if you make a mistake three times, you may end up spending the rest of
your life in jail," the area's chief lawman added. Padilla's defense
attorney disagreed.

"It's an unfortunate case," said Hope C. Lefeber. She insisted there were
ample grounds for some leniency.

She said her client held a job in a garage, supported his wife and two
young children, had coached Little League, was otherwise active in his
community, attended church regularly and got involved in parentteacher
meetings.

Padilla was one of two men arrested by FBI agents and Pennsylvania State
Police who, acting on an informant's tip, had stopped the van on Nov. 12,
1996, following a hotel stakeout and highspeed chase.

Codefendant Jose Cruz, the passenger in the van, testified at Padilla's
trial in April that he and Padilla each expected to make $1,500 for picking
up the cocaine at the Embassy Suites Hotel near Philadelphia International
Airport and delivering it to a local drug dealer named Emilio, who had
hired them.

Emilio, whose full name is known to authorities, is now considered a
fugitive, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ewald Zittlau, the case prosecutor.

More than 55 Philadelphia drug traffickers, many of them smalltime dealers
like Padilla, have been jailed for life by federal judges since the
mid1980s, court records show.