ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 5, 1997 TAG: 9704070073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE THE ROANOKE TIMES
An assistant U.S. attorney filed a memorandum saying news reports of the DEA trying to get a first-degree murder charge dismissed were false.
Amid tight security, drug informants Javier Cruz and his one-time boss, Leonardo Rivera-Ruiz, on Friday made their first appearance in federal court since their case became public last year.
Cruz and Rivera went before a federal magistrate for arraignment on a variety of cocaine smuggling charges returned by a grand jury in January.
Two years ago, while cooperating with the government, Cruz and Rivera pleaded guilty to a 1991 indictment. The January indictment incorporated those charges and included new ones.
Cruz's attorney, Bill Cleaveland, said Cruz will plead guilty to the second indictment when a trial is scheduled, and Rivera is expected to as well.
No trial date has been set yet, but U.S. Attorney Bob Crouch said he expects it to be this year. Both Rivera, who ran a smuggling ring out of New York, and Cruz, who transported the cocaine for him, face life imprisonment. The two hope to get consideration at their sentencing for their work as informants.
Twenty of the other 26 people indicted in January have not been located and most of them likely are in Colombia, which does not extradite its citizens to the United States.
Crouch said the government will proceed with the defendants it has in custody and not wait in hopes of catching the others.
The case began when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration opened an investigation in 1990 into Cruz's Roanoke used-car lot, which the DEA says was a cover for the smuggling operation. After Cruz and Rivera were arrested, they became informants, and helped the government in a money-laundering sting aimed at Colombia's Cali drug cartel. Thirteen people - most or all of them Colombians - were indicted in February as a result of that operation. None has been arrested.
U.S. Marshal Larry Mattox arranged for Rivera and Cruz to enter and leave the courtroom Friday through a locked hallway instead of using regular entrances so the two could avoid news cameras.
Mattox said the DEA asked for the special arrangements because agents did not want Rivera to be photographed and publicly identified. (Cruz's picture already has appeared in newspapers.) He also said the DEA told him of reports of Colombian hit men and gave other security reasons he would not discuss.
Seven people from the marshal's office were in the courtroom, as well as a bailiff and six DEA agents. The only other people present were reporters and people awaiting the next case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Mott filed a memorandum before the hearing Friday morning, asking U.S. Magistrate Glen Conrad to discount news reports when he considered bond conditions for Cruz. The Roanoke Times and other newspapers have reported that the DEA tried to get a first-degree murder charge against Cruz dismissed so they could put him to work undercover. Cruz pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the 1987 killing of Mark Garrett outside Charlotte, N.C.
The memorandum says the government had investigated the reports and found them to be untrue.
"No federal agent, at any time, ever asked that murder charges be dropped or modified," the memorandum says. "The North Carolina homicide case was resolved on the merits and therefore nothing has been concealed from this Court or the public in regards to those events."
The North Carolina prosecutor, however, has said the DEA asked him to drop the murder charge outright because Cruz was such a valuable informant.
Conrad allowed Cruz to remain on the same $100,000 unsecured bond he has had since 1992, but ordered him to be supervised by a probation officer. Cruz had not been under court supervision before, as defendants on bond usually are.
Mott said supervision would be appropriate now because Cruz will no longer have to "travel internationally" for the DEA. Cruz returned to his native Colombia to work undercover for the DEA after his release on bond in 1992.
Conrad warned Cruz to stay away from his co-defendants. Last week, Conrad entered an order to that effect after one of the other defendants said Cruz threatened to kill her in 1991 if she talked to law enforcement after they were arrested.
"I take these matters seriously," Conrad said. "I'm assuming you're able to do better now. I expect there to be no ... complaints about your behavior henceforth, understand?"
Cruz replied, "Yes, your honor."
Rivera's attorney, who is from Miami, could not be reached for comment. No one answered the door at Rivera's Cloverdale home Friday afternoon.
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