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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2004

Former Worchester Store Owner Sentenced for Distributing Crack Cocaine

APR 7 - Worcester, MA... A former Worcester storeowner was sentenced today to federal prison in connection with distributing crack cocaine.

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England and United States Attorney Michael Sullivan, announced today that RUBEN SALAS, age 36, formerly of 11 Ames Street, in Worcester, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U. S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 10 years in prison for distributing crack cocaine. SALAS pleaded guilty to the charge at a previous hearing.

At the previous plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that during 1999, SALAS, the owner of Botanica San Miguel, an incense, candle, and oil shop, located in Worcester, sold and distributed crack cocaine at various locations in and around Worcester.

The case was investigated by the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Worcester Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney David Hennessy in Sullivan’s Worcester Office.