Man Sentenced For Trafficking Cocaine From Puerto Rico To Rhode Island

CRANSTON, RI — A Cranston man was sentenced to two years in federal prison for his role in trafficking more than 100 kilograms of cocaine into Rhode Island from Puerto Rico, U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said Thursday.

Hector Rios was sentenced after pleading guilty on May 9, 2023, to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine. After his prison sentence, Rios must serve three years of federal probation.

In pleading guilty, Rios admitted to a federal judge he accepted packages containing kilos of cocaine shipped to his residence from Puerto Rico on behalf of a drug trafficking organization. Once the packages arrived, Rios delivered them to the drug ring's leaders, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, between December 2019 and July 2020, Rios received packages shipped through the U.S. Postal Service containing at least five kilos of cocaine.

The United States Postal Inspection Service determined that, at the direction of members of the drug trafficking operation, more than 60 priority mail packages containing one or more kilograms of cocaine were shipped from different post offices in Puerto Rico to various addresses in Woonsocket.

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