Latoya Corley, the woman who was caught last September at the JFK Airport with cocaine and later said she’d been raped when she tried to pull out of travelling to the US with the drugs, has been sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison by New York Senior Judge Leo Glasser.
Corley, who pleaded guilty to importing a controlled substance, will also be supervised for three years following her release, according to the judgement seen by this newspaper. She was sentenced on October 14.
The convict had sought five years’ probation instead of a custodial sentence, based on aberrant conduct, coercion, her attempts to cooperate with the government and her family circumstances. She had argued for a reduced sentence and had alleged that she was “threatened, beaten and raped” after she indicated her desire to withdraw from the plan and go home without any drugs.
The woman, who said she was the sole caretaker for three children, ages three, four and five years old, said she had voluntarily agreed to transport the drugs because of her “dire” financial situation.
However, US Attorney Loretta Lynch, in a sentencing memorandum had countered that the woman should have been sentenced to between 37 to 46 months, which would be consistent with statutory sentencing provisions.
Lynch had said that while Corley’s allegations are serious, the incidents were uncorroborated and were not disclosed to law enforcement agents until recently, despite several opportunities for her to do so.
She had pointed out that even after Corley was allegedly threatened with violence and told that she would have to swallow 150 pellets containing drugs she did not flee the hotel, despite having possession of her passport and return ticket and being left alone in the hotel room.
According to information sworn to by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Agent Joseph Jerla, Corley arrived on Caribbean Airlines Flight 424 on a ticket purchased just days before her flight and on a newly-issued passport. She was questioned and a book found on her person was discovered to contain cocaine between its pages.
Her briefcase was also checked along with the album and portfolio that was found in the briefcase and all three allegedly had cocaine. Jerla said the cocaine amounted to 535.6 grammes.
“In her pre-sentence interview, the defendant told probation that one of the individuals who gave her the drugs ‘instructed the defendant she should leave the hotel room at certain times of the day’ and ‘act like a tourist’ so that the hotel staff would not become suspicious,” Lynch had said.
She did so for seven days and she had possession of her documents for several days before they were allegedly taken away from her and according to the lawyer she had ample time to inform the hotel staff of her predicament but chose not to do so.
It was pointed out that she could have alerted the flight crew on her return flight to the US or the enforcement agents at the JFK airport but again chose not to do so.
