Maryland drug ring conspirator sentenced to prison

GREENBELT, Md. — A Silver Spring, Md., man, who conspired to distribute more than 1,500 pounds of marijuana and launder more than $1 million, was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison.

Mikhnail DelRosario, aka Mickey, 28, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow to 11 years in prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for conspiring to distribute more than 700 kilograms of marijuana and conspiring to commit money laundering. Chief Judge Chasanow also ordered that DelRosario forfeit $1 million, believed to be the proceeds of the drug and money laundering conspiracies.

The sentencing follows an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Montgomery County Police Department.

According to his guilty plea and court documents, from March 2011 to December 2012, DelRosario conspired with Billymir Mancilla-Brevichet, Chamron Thach, Carlos Escobar and others to distribute marijuana in the Montgomery County area. From October 2012 through December 2012, law enforcement officials intercepted more than 75 drug-related telephone conversations made by DelRosario on Mancilla and Thach's telephones, during which he discussed the sale of drugs and arranged for transactions involving marijuana.

Specifically, Mancilla acquired large amounts of high-quality marijuana from suppliers in California and elsewhere, and arranged for shipment by plane, car and mail to co-conspirators in Montgomery County, including DelRosario. During the time of the conspiracy, DelRosario received 2-to-4-pound packages of marijuana from Mancilla at least two to three times per month. DelRosario also received packages of marijuana that he supplied to other members of the conspiracy on Mancilla's behalf. DelRosario also sent couriers with currency to Mancilla in California to purchase marijuana from Mancilla. DelRosario paid Mancilla between $3,000 and $4,000 per pound of marijuana.

Mancilla's co-conspirators also transported at least 100 pounds of marijuana at a time by car to a storage facility in Maryland, where Mancilla arranged for DelRosario and others, to pick up multiple pounds of marijuana for re-distribution. On at least five occasions, DelRosario traveled to California to receive marijuana and to transport drug proceeds in the form of bulk cash to Mancilla.

DelRosario packaged and shipped the marijuana from Mancilla's California residence to Maryland for redistribution.

During his participation in the conspiracy, DelRosario conspired to distribute between 700 and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

The conspirators also engaged in financial transactions that were designed to conceal the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the drug proceeds. For example, Mancilla arranged to receive payment for the marijuana he caused to be distributed by having drug customers deposit cash payments in amounts less than $10,000 into bank accounts that he controlled that were held in fake names and in the names of fake businesses. DelRosario and co-conspirators, including Mancilla, Thach and Escobar, structured the financial transactions to evade the requirement that banks report transactions more than $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, thereby concealing from the government large cash transactions by drug dealers.

Mancilla arranged for drug customers to mail drug proceeds from Maryland to him in California. Mancilla also had drug customers make payments to DelRosario and other co-conspirators in Maryland, who bundled the drug proceeds together in amounts ranging from $10,000 to $100,000, and arranged for individuals to transport the bulk cash by airplane from Maryland to Mancilla in California. DelRosario also made several trips by plane from Maryland to Mancilla in California with bulk cash.

For example, during the course of the conspiracy, DelRosario made two deliveries of currency to a cooperating informant totaling more than $36,000. In October 2012, DelRosario provided $58,200 to Thach for payment to Mancilla for marijuana. DelRosario was responsible for acquiring and transporting at least $1 million during the course of the conspiracy.

Mancilla was previously sentenced to 90 months in prison and ordered to forfeit $278,618 seized from May to October 2012. Thach and Escobar were sentenced to eight years and three years in prison, respectively, for their participation in the drug and money laundering conspiracies. Six other conspirators pleaded guilty and were sentenced to between 4 years and 78 months in prison.

This Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christen A. Sproule and Mara Zusman Greenberg of the District of Maryland.