Utica man sentenced to 96 months on drug and money laundering convictions

 

Date: Jan. 18, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Syracuse, NY — Willie Alvarado, Jr. of Utica, New York, was sentenced last week to serve 8 years in federal prison for attempted possession with intent to distribute over 500 grams of cocaine and money laundering.

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Frank A. Tarentino III, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New York Division, made the announcement.

As part of his guilty plea, Alvarado admitted that, as early as October 2022, he began using the United States Postal Service to receive drug parcels from Puerto Rico. In May of 2023, law enforcement intercepted a package shipped from Puerto Rico, intended for Alvarado, which contained two kilograms of cocaine. Alvarado admitted that he intended to distribute the cocaine in the package. Alvarado further admitted that, in September of 2023, he used another individual to launder at least $9,940 of his drug proceeds.

Senior United States District Court Judge David N. Hurd also imposed a four-year term of supervised release to begin after Alvarado is released from prison.

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), DEA,and United States Postal Inspection Service investigated the case with assistance from the New York State Police, Utica Police Department, Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, Syracuse Police Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement, and Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica N. Carbone prosecuted the case.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.