JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A convicted California drug trafficker who paid bribes to a corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration agent has been sentenced by a Florida judge to more than 11 years in federal prison.
U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg said in a news release Tuesday that a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, imposed the sentence on Francisco Gonzalez Benitez, 37, of Orange, California. Gonzalez Benitez pleaded guilty to drug and money laundering charges in April.
Court documents show Gonzalez Benitez admitted shipping large quantities of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine from California to Jacksonville and Little Rock, online casino Arkansas, between 2016 and 2019.
Prosecutors say Gonzalez Benitez also had worked as an informant for DEA Agent Nathan Koen and paid the agent thousands of dollars in bribes to help provide "top cover protection" for the drug operation.
For example, investigators say Koen told the drug dealer when to avoid shipments in the mail, when to change his phone number and whether law enforcement was looking into him or online casino his customers.