A Yonkers man is facing a lengthy state prison sentence after pleading guilty Thursday to transporting a vast amount of cocaine along Interstate 87, according to authorities. State troopers, following on a tip from federal authorities, pulled over his car on the busy Westchester stretch of the highway and discovered more than 40 kilograms of cocaine inside, transforming a routine check into a headline case.
Prosecutors identified the driver as 50-year-old Elvin Caballero Diaz, who admitted to having the cocaine and pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal possession of a controlled drug. The plea was entered Thursday in Westchester County Court, The Journal News/lohud reports.
The traffic incident that set everything in motion occurred on October 27, when a state trooper stopped Diaz at Exit 4 on I-87 after noticing a dirty license plate and what officers described as an unsafe lane shift. According to court filings, Diaz consented to the search of the vehicle, and troopers discovered vacuum-packed bricks that were ultimately identified as cocaine. According to the NY Daily Record, the matter initially became public during Diaz’s December arraignment, in which he pleaded not guilty.
Diaz has now been convicted of first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, the most serious felony under New York’s drug laws, which can land defendants in prison for decades. Prosecutors argue that the more than 40 kg seized in the car places the case in the statute’s harshest sentence bracket. A sentencing date has yet to be determined, according to The Journal News/lohud.
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