As the charges against Planning and Natural Resources Chief Enforcement Officer Roberto Tapia continue to grow, so does his alleged ring of co-conspirators: a seventh man, Hector Alcenio, was advised of his rights this week in V.I. District Court in connection with the case.
Alcenio’s file is currently under seal, but a document filed Thursday – after Alcenio made his initial appearance – states that he has been charged with conspiracy to possess and possession of controlled substances. Court officials said Friday that District Court Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller also ruled in favor of the government’s recommendation not to grant Alcenio bail.
Alcenio’s arraignment hearing is scheduled for Aug. 1, according to the District Court’s clerks office.
Tapia, along with alleged co-conspirators Stephen Torres, Eddie Lopez-Lopez and Angelo Hill, were also arraigned this week, with each one pleading not guilty to charges included in an expanded indictment recently filed by the feds.
Tapia was initially arrested in mid-May by federal agents and charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.
The arrest of Torres and Lopez-Lopez, along with Hill – a former V.I. Police Department sergeant – quickly followed and, on Tuesday, a new document expanding the charges against Tapia and bringing new charges against Raymond Brown and Edwin Monsanto, also emerged in V.I. District Court.
The new indictment charges Tapia under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), saying that he used DPNR as a front for illegal activities and allegedly pulled others within the department – referred to in the indictment as the "enterprise" – into the ring. The group, according to the indictment, engaged "in a pattern of racketeering activity" from September 2012 to May 2013, while Tapia took advantage of his position as DPNR’s chief of enforcement, using his official credentials, uniform, firearms and marine vessels in perpetrating the crimes.
Brown and Monsanto, meanwhile, also pleaded not guilty this week after being advised of their rights and arraigned.
Brown, described in the expanded document as a "cocaine supplier and distributor," has been charged with two counts each of conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and federal use of a communication facility to facilitate a drug crime.
The 51-year-old Monsanto, meanwhile, has been named in four counts and has also been charged with two counts each of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and use of a communication facility to facilitate a drug crime.
Requests by prosecutors to detain Brown and Monsanto pending trial were denied by Miller, who granted each bail of $250,000 – the same amount given to Tapia and Hill. Both Brown and Monsanto will be released into the custody of a third-party custodian, but will be confined to their homes and electronically monitored, among other things.
All defendants in the case have asked for a speedy jury trial, which Miller said should start in early September.
