A man accused of smuggling cocaine into the country in soup packets and detected by a drug-sniffing dog at Washington Dulles International Airport is expected to plead guilty.
A plea hearing is scheduled for Friday for Jose Acevedo, a 41-year-old from Carlisle, Pa. He was arrested in June after being stopped at the airport. He’s facing more than 10 years in prison.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said agents seized about four pounds of cocaine from Acevedo’s luggage. Authorities said Acevedo was caught in June when he was selected for a routine secondary inspection after a flight from El Salvador.
Drug-detecting dog Demi smelled the cocaine, hidden in packages of powdered soup, according to CBP officials and court documents. An officer saw a white powdery substance spilling out of the soup boxes when investigators opened Acevedo’s luggage after the dog barked, court records say.
Authorities say they found 21 soup boxes that contained cocaine in Acevedo’s luggage. They also allegedly found other packets labeled as soup that held both cocaine and soup.
Acevedo initially told investigators that he was self-employed as a courier transporting items to the United States from Guatemala, where his flight had originated, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Alexandria.
Acevedo said that his courier service was called “Sultana Express” and that he did not know who gave him the items to be transported, who was supposed to pick them up or what the packages contained. He claimed he didn’t know that the soup packages contained cocaine.
Court documents say that Acevedo also told authorities that the flight was only his third trip for the service and he was having financial troubles.
He said that he saved up $1,500 to start the courier businesses but only earned about $300 on a recent courier trip. He couldn’t explain how he was paying for his expenses.
Acevedo told investigators that he charges $6 per pound for bringing the items to the United States.
Todd Richman, the public defender representing Acevedo, said he had no comment on Friday’s scheduled plea hearing.
A federal grand jury indicted Acevedo on drug-trafficking charges in August. He had been scheduled to go to trial next week.
