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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Nov. 30, 2007
LIMO DRIVER WHO LIED ABOUT CLIENT, CARGO SENTENCED TO 8+ YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A limousine driver was sentenced Thursday to 97 months in federal prison for drug trafficking.
Mousa Siyam, 42, Marietta, Ga., was arrested Dec. 15, 2005, while driving a Ford Excursion limo on I-70 in Douglas County, Kan. He was stopped by the Kansas Highway Patrol for an expired tag. In the vehicle with him were two other men, one of whom was in the passenger seat of the driver’s compartment with Siyam. The other man, Alfonso Ramirez-Martinez, was in the rear of the limo, posing as a celebrity.
“When Mr. Siyam was asked about the identity of his client, he falsely claimed the man in the back of the limousine was a musician with the band Santana,” said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren. “He said he was driving the musician from Denver to Cleveland.”
Troopers found five duffel bags containing a total of more than 450 pounds of marijuana in the limousine.
In January 2007, a jury found Siyam guilty of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, and one count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. At trial, evidence was presented that Siyam organized trips from Georgia to Arizona and Ohio for another man who paid him $5,000 per load of marijuana. Siyam kept in contact with the other man during the trip by cell phone.
At sentencing, prosecutors argued that Siyam attempted to obstruct the investigation by committing perjury when he testified at trial that he had no knowledge there was marijuana in the limousine and denied that he had made other drug trafficking trips.
Ramirez-Martinez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. The other man in the car was acquitted on all charges.
Melgren commended the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri McCracken for their work on the case.
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