They looked like car batteries, until agents found cocaine in shipment on Miami River
A cargo vessel that had departed from the Dominican Republic and arrived at a shipping facility on the Miami River seemed to be transporting a variety of legitimate merchandise.
At least that’s what the paperwork said for the M/V Pepin Express.
But on closer inspection, federal customs officers last month found two wooden pallets stacked with 48 car batteries — and 35 of them were filled with packages of cocaine, according to court records.
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations then came up with a plan aimed at uncovering who would claim the multiple kilos of cocaine. They grabbed the real drugs and replaced them with an “innocuous powder similar in appearance to cocaine,” according to a criminal affidavit.
After obtaining a warrant, agents placed tracking devices inside two packages of the sham cocaine hidden in two of the auto batteries. They then returned the entire shipment of car batteries to the cargo vessel on the Miami River and waited to see who would show up for it.
On March 23, agents witnessed a man load the shipment of car batteries into a white cargo truck and drive away, the affidavit says. They followed the cargo truck to a self-storage facility in Miami, where it was escorted by a pickup truck through the security gates . The cargo truck exited the facility.
Agents approached the pickup truck as the driver was placing the auto batteries into two separate piles, the affidavit says. His name: Juan Luis Hernandez Rodriguez.
During his arrest, Hernandez waived his Miranda rights and admitted knowing that some of the batteries contained cocaine, according to the affidavit.
“Hernandez admitted that he had separated the batteries into two piles, one for batteries containing drugs and the second for batteries that did not,” the affidavit says. “Hernandez admitted that he planned to place the batteries containing drugs onto the bed of his pickup truck and return to Orlando, Florida.”
A criminal complaint charged Hernandez with attempting to possess cocaine with intent to distribute it.
But due to the coronavirus outbreak, for his first appearance in Miami federal court Hernandez was not in custody, records show. Instead, he appeared from an unknown location via video teleconference before Magistrate Judge Lauren Fleischer Louis.
At the March 26 hearing, federal prosecutor Sajjad Matin agreed to a $400,000 bond cosigned by Hernandez’s wife and brother from Mexico, court records show.
Hernandez’s arraignment on formal drug distribution charges is scheduled for April 22 and will likely be held via a video teleconference.
Hernandez’s defense attorney, Jesus Novo III, did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
It is not clear from the court records what happened to the other man driving the cargo truck to the self-storage facility, but Homeland Security agents are still investigating the case, a spokesperson said.
