News
Release
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Rhode Island
April 5, 2005
Westerly auto dealer is sentenced to 42 months in prison
for money laundering
A federal judge has sentenced Renato M. Garcia to 42 months in federal
prison for money laundering. In December, Garcia admitted
that he structured the sale price of motor vehicles he
sold at his Westerly dealership, Renskip Auto Sales, so the buyer, who
was posing as a drug dealer, could conceal his profits.
United States Attorney Robert Clark Corrente announced the sentence,
which Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ernest C. Torres
imposed on April 1 in U.S. District Court, Providence.
Judge Torres also entered a preliminary order forfeiting to the government
Garcia’s dealership, 44 vehicles, real estate on Main
Street, Westerly, and $414,078. In December, Garcia,
36, of 32 East Haddam Colchester Turnpike, East Haddam,
Connecticut, pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering. At
the plea hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch said that
the government had proof that, on three occasions in March and April
2004, Garcia sold vehicles for cash to a man representing himself as
a marijuana and cocaine dealer. He sold the vehicles at prices ranging
from $15,000 to $17,500 but on each occasion recorded the sale price
as under $10,000. Transactions of $10,000 or more must be reported to
the United States Government.
During one of the sales, Garcia recommended ways of constructing hiding
places in vehicles in which to stash drugs. During another,
he cautioned the buyer against storing cash with drugs
because the money can absorb the smell of the drugs.
Garcia will forfeit assets that were linked to his money laundering
activities – Renskip Auto Sales, located at 85 Main Street,
44 vehicles belonging to the dealership, and money that
agents seized last May when Garcia was arrested – $128,800 from his
home and $285,278 from a Citizens bank account. He will also forfeit
a parcel of property at 201 Main Street, Westerly.
The case resulted from a multi-agency investigation by
Westerly Police, Hopkinton Police, the Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal
Investigation, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Investigators from the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institutions
and the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles, Enforcement Division
provided assistance to the investigation. Rhode Island State Police
provided assistance in the sentencing phase of the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dambruch, Kenneth P. Madden, and Michael P.
Iannotti prosecuted the case.
Contact: 401-709-5032 Thomas.connell@usdoj.gov
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