Co-defendant of cops gets 2 yrs, 11 months

Carl Cabrera, a co-defendant of convicted former police officers Eric John Tudela Mafnas and Charley K. Patris, was sentenced yesterday to two years and 11 months in prison.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Alex R. Munson gave Cabrera only 35 months in prison due to his substantial assistance to investigators in prosecuting Mafnas and Patris.

Cabrera signed a plea agreement with the U.S. government. He pleaded guilty to the indictment charging him with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

While in prison, the defendant shall be made to participate in a drug treatment program, anger management, and vocational programs as approved by the Bureau of Prisons.

After serving the jail prison, Munson said, Cabrera would be placed on five years of supervised probation.

During the probationary period, the defendant is prohibited from consuming any alcoholic beverages and will be required to perform 300 hours of community work service.

Munson directed the defendant to immediately pay $100 in court assessment fee.

The judge remanded Cabrera back to the custody of the U.S. Marshals, but granted his request to visit his family for two hours yesterday.

On Jan. 11, 2005, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Cabrera and then police officers Mafnas and Patris on charges of conspiracy to steal cash and illegal drugs evidence from the Department of Public Safety.

The indictment said that, from May 13, 2003 to sometime in December 2003, Mafnas and Cabrera and others conspired to distribute and possess with intent to distribute five grams of “ice.”

The prosecution said the illegal drugs being sold on the streets were among those stolen by Mafnas from the evidence room at DPS.

Cabrera, a Guam resident who was then a construction worker, was indicted with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

He entered a plea agreement with the U.S. government and testified for the government during the trial of Mafnas and Patris.

Mafnas was convicted of conspiracy to commit theft, false statements and perjury; theft concerning programs receiving federal funds; conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance involving five grams or more of “ice”; possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance involving five grams or more of “ice”; making false statements; and perjury.

Patris was convicted of making false statements, perjury, and accessory after the fact. He was acquitted on the charges of conspiracy to commit theft, false statements and perjury; and theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.

Mafnas was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison, while Patris got nine years.