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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Drug trafficker sentenced to life without release
DAYTON — A man convicted of leading a drug ring that brought hundreds of kilograms of cocaine to southwest Ohio was sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 29, to life in federal prison without the possibility of release.
Daniel Garcia-Guia, 28, a Mexican national who was living in Dayton, appeared before U.S. District Senior Judge Walter H. Rice. Following a six-week trial, Garcia-Guia was convicted June 4 of one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, one count of possession with intent to distribute controlled substances, and one count of being a principal leader of a continuing criminal enterprise which involved at least 150 kilograms of cocaine.
Garcia-Guia’s organization brought drugs to southwest Ohio from 2005 until his arrest in April 2007, according to federal authorities. As part of the investigation, DEA and FBI agents in El Paso intercepted 25 kilograms of cocaine bound for Dayton, worth approximately $750,000 wholesale.
Garcia-Guia and his co-conspirators maintained real property (or “stash houses”) in the Dayton area, where large amounts of cocaine were stored, packaged and distributed. During the execution of a search warrant in 2005, investigators seized more than $3 million in cash from one of the stash houses, said William E. Hunt, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
Twenty-two others indicted along with Garcia-Guia in and after May 2007 have entered guilty pleas and have been sentenced or are awaiting sentencing. Two others remain at large and are believed to have left the country. An additional defendant is believed to have been murdered while in Mexico, Hunt said.
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Cook trial: Girl’s brain injuries were inoperable
DAYTON — Hope Cook’s brain injuries were so significant that she could not be stabilized long enough to consider organ donation, a Children’s Medical Center doctor testified Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Dr. Patricia Abboud pronounced Hope dead on July 20, 2008, the same day the 3-year-old was taken to the hospital.
Hope’s half-sister Kimberly, 23, is on trial this week in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for charges related to the alleged abuse of Hope and Hope’s 6-year-old brother Dexter. The three were living at the family’s mobile home at Voyager Mobile Home Park, off U.S. 35, in Trotwood.
Kimberly is charged with two counts of murder, one count of felonious assault, and two counts of child endangering. One of those child endangering charges are for Dexter’s injuries and the other four are for Hope’s. Kimberly Cook is not charged with purposeful murder, and both murder counts stem from a “proximate result” of the other two charges involving Hope.
Hope suffered two skull fractures, and Abboud said that the brain swelling was so bad that doctors could not operate.
Abboud told assistant county prosecutor Mary Montgomery that she had only seen two other patients with such severe brain swelling. One was a 14-month-old who died from abuse and the other was a 3-year-old who survived a car accident in which the child had been unrestrained.
Hope’s injuries were more severe than either of those two cases, Abboud said.
Abboud also said she remembered that, when she questioned Kimberly about the injuries, Kimberly kept referring to Hope as “that girl.”
The trial will resume Wednesday.
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Cook trial: Blood stains match the children, DNA expert testifies
DAYTON — Blood stains found in Hope Cook’s home matched her DNA and that of her brother Dexter, a forensic scientist testified Tuesday, Sept. 29.
The children’s half-sister, Kimberly Cook, is on trial this week in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for charges related to the alleged abuse of both children, including the death of 3-year-old Hope.
Amy Rismiller, who works for the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory, testified that she matched Hope’s DNA to two blood stains on her pink Barbie comforter. A third blood stain came from a female donor, but it was not Hope, Rismiller said.
Four blood stains on the bathroom vanity door all matched Dexter, who was 6 when his sister died July 20, 2008, Rismiller said.
Earlier Tuesday, Stacey Creech, a patient advocate at Children’s Medical Center, testified that she noticed the heavy swelling on the tops of Dexter’s feet. Dexter told her that he injured his feet by kicking the vanity while Kimberly Cook held his head under water in the sink.
Kimberly Cook, 23, is charged with two counts of murder, one count of felonious assault, and two counts of child endangering. One of those child endangering charges are for Dexter’s injuries and the other four are for Hope’s. Kimberly Cook is not charged with purposeful murder, and both murder counts stem from a “proximate result” of the other two charges involving Hope.
Hope died at Children’s Medical Center on July 20, hours after she suffered severe injuries, including two skull fractures, according to prosecutors. Montgomery County Children Services removed two other children from the family’s mobile home at Voyager Mobile Home Park, off U.S. 35. One was Dexter, and the other was the son of Kimberly Cook’s husband. The second boy was not injured, according to prosecutors.
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