A Providence Man Claimed Cocaine Sent Through The USPS. Now, He'll Likely Be Deported

PROVIDENCE, RI — A Providence man, and citizen of the Dominican Republic, could face deportation after he was sentenced to 16 months time-served for possessing nearly two kilograms of cocaine, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Rhode Island announced.

Robinson Padilla-Rosario, 38, was arrested just moments after he claimed a package at a Providence post office that contained nearly two kilograms of cocaine that were sent through the mail in 2021, officials said.

According to charging documents, on April 17, 2021, two days after a Postal Service employee was unable to make a controlled delivery of the package to a Providence residence addressed to a “Jose Azcona,” Padilla-Rosario, claiming to be Azcona, retrieved the package from the post office.

He was detained as he left the post office and was found to be in possession of a fake Rhode Island driver’s license bearing his photograph, the name Jose A. Azcona, and the address to which the package had been mailed, according to the attorney's office.

Investigators discovered evidence on a cellphone in Padilla-Rosario’s possession that he had been using an app to communicate with a person in Puerto Rico, which included an image of the Postal Service redelivery slip for the package containing the cocaine, the attorney's office said.

Padilla-Rosario pled guilty on May 11 to possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and using a communication device to facilitate the commission of a drug felony.

He has been in federal custody for approximately sixteen months since the time he was initially charged and was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to time served followed by two years of federal supervised release.

However, the attorney's office said, as Padilla-Rosario was illegally present in the United States following a prior unlawful entry and voluntary departure in 2004, he has separately been taken into the custody of immigration authorities, who intend to have him removed from the country.