Boston man caught with 17 lbs of cocaine gets 10 years

SALEM – A 34-year-old Boston man caught with eight kilos, more than 17 pounds, of cocaine worth an estimated $750,000 at a Lynnfield storage facility in 2005 will spend 10 years in state prison.Carlos Perez, last known address of Border Street, East Boston and also of Kissimmee, Fla., made his plea in a deal worked out by prosecutors and defense Tuesday afternoon in Salem Superior Court. He confessed to a charge of trafficking over 100 grams of cocaine before Judge Howard J. Whitehead.Perez had been indicted for trafficking over 200 grams of cocaine. His confession to a reduced charge spared him a mandatory 15-year state prison term.In the spring of 2005, state troopers of the Essex County Drug Task Force had been conducting surveillance at the EZ Storage Facility on Route 1 in Lynnfield after receiving information that vehicles had been coming and going from two of the units rented and that cocaine was possibly being sold.On the late afternoon of May 10, 2005, police watched as a man, later identified as Perez, pulled up to Unit 376 in a black Audi sedan.The troopers watched as Perez took a one-kilogram cocaine bundle from the unit and put it into the trunk of the Audi.Authorities then moved in and found two more kilos of cocaine inside a hidden compartment of the car.They also searched a storage shed and found a Mercedes that contained five more kilograms of cocaine.In all eight kilograms of cocaine were seized by authorities.Police believe Perez was moving cocaine from the Mercedes to the Audi to distribute within the area.In another storage area, police said they found another car, registered to someone who shared Perez’s Kissimmee, Fla. address. Perez had a key to that unit on his person as well when police arrested him.In asking the judge to accept the sentence proposed, defense lawyer Paul A. Farina said his client was “remorseful” for what happened and “learned a harsh lesson.”Perez had been free on bail, but defaulted on the case and was arrested last year on the warrant.The judge credited him the 415 days he has spent in jail on bail awaiting trial on the case.