DRUG TRAFFICKER GETS 11 YEARS IN PRISON

The Colombia Native Collaborated Against Several Haitian Officials In Ousted
Aristide's Regime

OCALA -- A drug trafficker whose cooperation with authorities led to the
arrests of former high-ranking Haitian officials on drug charges was
sentenced Monday to more than 11 years in federal prison.

Carlos Ovalle, a 54-year-old Colombia native who had been living in Haiti,
pleaded guilty last fall to one count each of conspiracy to distribute
cocaine and to laundering $2 million.

U.S. Senior District Judge William Terrell Hodges reluctantly agreed to the
136-month sentence only after a statement by a federal prosecutor that
Ovalle has collaborated extensively with investigators and will continue to
do so.

"This truly is an exceptional case in which he provided valuable
information," Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Savell said at Ovalle's
sentencing at federal court in Ocala. "The word is out, and he has done this
at the risk to himself and his family."

Steven Amster, Ovalle's Miami-based attorney, said his client had hoped for
more leniency, considering his high level of cooperation. Hodges said
Ovalle's crimes warranted between 24 years and 30 years in prison.

Savell admitted that Ovalle's information had been "funneled" to
"high-ranking officials in Washington" who were concerned about reports of
drug trafficking in the Haiti government.

Ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who left Haiti Feb. 29 during an
uprising, is in exile in South Africa. U.S. officials have said his former
administration remains under scrutiny.

In court, Amster said Ovalle had been in the drug business since the "mid-to
late '90s." In a plea agreement last fall, Ovalle said he had lived in Haiti
for 11 years before his arrest.

Investigators and informants say they suspect Ovalle of smuggling at least
$40 million worth of cocaine from Haiti to the United States in the past
decade.

Between 2000 and 2003, Ovalle communicated with several Central Florida drug
agents posing as money launderers. In three weeks in 2000, those agents
received $2 million in drug proceeds to launder through South Florida banks.
Ovalle later agreed to provide 100 kilograms, or 220 pounds, of cocaine
twice a month to the agents, who posed as sailors in a maritime shipping
operation that never materialized.

In the summer of 2002, Ovalle has told investigators, several former
high-ranking police officials seized $450,000 from him at Port-au- Prince
airport and pocketed $150,000.

In August 2003, he was arrested by U.S. drug agents in Haiti and taken to
Orlando-Sanford International Airport aboard a U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration jet. He is being held in the Sumter County Jail, Amster said.

Savell identified the Haitian officials only by rank and position, but court
records named them: Oriel Jean, Aristide's former presidential palace
security chief; Jean Nesly Lucien, former Haitian police director; Evintz
Brillant, former anti-drug squad chief; Rudy Therassan, ex-commander of
investigations; Romaine Lestin, a former Haitian SWAT commander; and
Jean-Marie Fourel Celestin, a Haitian senator and former Aristide ally.

Savell and Amster said they expect Ovalle to continue collaborating because
he has yet to testify against those former Haitian officials whose cases
will be prosecuted in Miami.