(QCOSTARICA) Costa Rican model Adriana Kathia Corella will be spending the next four years and six months in prison, sentenced by a Nicaraguan court for money laundering and organized crime.
The sentence was read Wednesday afternoon by judge of the Seventh Criminal Court District Trial of Managua, Octavio Rothschuh.
Corrella was one of the members of the “Cacique” gang that moved drugs between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. She was one of five people arrested in Nicaragua last December 4.
During the police operation, Nicaragua authorities seized 285 kilos of cocaine hidden in the fuel tanks of two tractor trailers and in the compartment of another vehicle, a pick up truck, US$871,000 in cash.
At the time, Nicaragua’s national police reported that a Costa Rican, identified as Maruo Ruiz Lopez, 40, and designated at the gang leader, escaped police, but was later found in a luxury home, where he had committed suicide.
Initially the model was also charged with international drug traffickng, however, in the trial in June last, judge Rothschuh acquitted her of that offense.
Lopez was Corella’s better half and father of the couple’s five year old daughter. The child is now in the custody of Corella’s parents in Costa Rica, released to them by the Nicaraguan child welfare agency.
At trial, Corella was described as the person who handled the money for the gang, despite vowing her innocence, and alleging she was a victim of domestic violence.
According to an AFP report, it was not clear if Corella would be spending her time in a Nicaraguan prison for women, or as in the case of other Costa Ricans sentenced in Nicaragua, would be repatriated to Costa Rica, to serve her time on Tico soil.
In the Wednesday sentencing, the other members of the gang were sentenced from 5 to 15 years in prison.
During trial, the Nicaraguan press had a field day, with headlines included “Tica Model Brings Her Closet to Prison” and “Tica Model Dazzles Court in Managua“, and photos of the sexy dress the model wore in court.
Photos are from El Nuevo Diario in Nicaragua.
