Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Puerto Rico
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Attorney Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For Concealing A Fugitive From Arrest, Obstruction Of Justice And Tampering With Judicial Proceedings
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico– Today, U.S. District Court Senior Judge Daniel R. Domínguez sentenced state criminal defense attorney Lemuel Velilla-Reyes to 18 months of imprisonment, one year of supervised release and a $20,000 fine for concealing a fugitive from arrest, endeavoring to obstruct, influence and impede the due administration of justice, and tampering with official proceedings, announced U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez. The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Public Corruption Squad.
Velilla-Reyes was found guilty on October 12, 2016, after a 20-day jury trial. He was originally indicted on September 16, 2014, on charges of harboring and concealing from detection a person for whose arrest a warrant had been issued under the provisions of a law of the United States on a charge of felony. On July 9, 2015, a second indictment was returned against Velilla-Reyes and Wilfredo Rodríguez-Rodríguez, on charges of endeavoring to obstruct, influence, and impede the due administration of justice, and tampering with official proceedings.
The facts proven at trial showed that on July 14, 2011, Velilla-Reyes represented federal fugitive Wilfredo Rodríguez- Rodríguez, aka “Fredo,” aka “Cape,” aka “Capellán,” under the false name of “Felix Otero-Torres” on local drug and weapon charges in state court. At that time, Wilfredo Rodríguez-Rodríguez had an outstanding arrest warrant since July 14, 2010, in federal case U.S. v. José Colón-de Jesus, et. al. Crim. No. 10-251 (JAF), where he was listed as the fifth individual in the 110-defendant indictment. He was charged with participating as a leader in a drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute controlled substances at the Virgilio Dávila, Las Gardenias, Brisas de Bayamón, and Falin Torrech housing projects, and other areas within the Bayamón Municipality. Velilla-Reyes was the attorney for many of the members of the drug trafficking organization which Rodríguez-Rodríguez was a part of, and had legally represented him in a prior criminal state case in 2006.
In the early morning hours of July 14, 2011, Police of Puerto Rico officers arrested Rodríguez-Rodríguez in Toa Baja while they were executing state arrest warrants. Upon his arrest, he provided the false name of Felix Otero-Torres, and did not provide or have on his person any identification documents.
Attorney Velilla-Reyes arrived at the police station to provide legal representation for Rodríguez-Rodríguez under the false name he had provided. Velilla-Reyes stood by while the charges against his client where filed under the false name. He then appeared in court during the probable cause proceedings and falsely represented to the court that his client Felix Otero-Torres could not recall his social security number or his full address. Velilla-Reyes requested that bail be set without electronic monitoring and told the court he would continue to represent his client throughout all the proceedings. He also vouched for his client’s fulfillment of pre-trial release conditions and his appearance in court. Rodríguez-Rodríguez, who was affirmatively identified during the days that followed, did not show up at the police station for booking and did not return to any court proceeding. Velilla-Reyes continued as the attorney of record, but failed to appear in any of the subsequent court hearings. As a consequence of the above actions, the bond was ordered forfeited and the bond company had to pay $24,000.
“The actions committed by this attorney and his efforts to conceal a federal fugitive from arrest through illegal conduct, undermined the public’s trust in the judicial system. The public’s trust in the integrity of the criminal justice system and those who work within that system is paramount to preserve law and order in our society. We will continue to work with local, state and other federal law enforcement agencies to strengthen the public’s trust in our justice system,” said Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.
“As the evidence in this case demonstrated, this defendant abused his status as a trusted officer of the court to corrupt the judicial system, and in doing so, endangered the public by setting a fugitive free,” said Douglas Leff, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI. “The FBI thanks its partners at the U.S. Attorney's Office for their diligence in obtaining this conviction.”
Senior Litigation Counsel José Ruiz Santiago, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jenifer Y. Hernández, and Victor O. Acevedo-Hernández were in charge of the prosecution of the case.
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