$3M Worth Of Cocaine Smuggled To Atlanta In Butter Tubs, Feds Say

ATLANTA — A man accused of smuggling cocaine from Haiti into Atlanta and other parts of the country by hiding about $3 million worth of the illegal drug in tubs of butter has been sentenced.

U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan announced Wednesday Florida-resident Amos “Patizan”Christolin, 52, is the third and final defendant to be sentenced in connection with the August 2017 case.

The investigation into Christolin began on Aug. 24, 2017, when officers with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection searched a shipment bound for Atlanta from Miami, Florida, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office's Northern District of Georgia.

The release stated the shipment entered the U.S. from Haiti. During the search, authorities found 28 packages of white powder that had been concealed in tubs of Haitian butter.

The powder, which tested positive for cocaine, weighed about 28 kilograms, the release stated.

"Homeland Security Investigations Special Agents in Atlanta made a controlled delivery of the drugs to the shipment’s intended destination, a business in Austell, Georgia," the release stated.

Douglasville resident Vital Joseph, 47, picked up the shipment, the release stated.

The U.S. Attorney's Office identified the drug supplier as 48-year-old Jean Yves-Durogel, of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Yves-Durogel was accused of previously shipping at least four loads of cocaine in butter tubs from Haiti to Joseph.

The release stated Joseph then distributed the cocaine to people in Miami who Yves-Durogel had previously identified. Christolin was identified as one of the people to receive the drugs, the release stated.

"In all, agents determined that more than 100 kilograms of cocaine had been shipped from Haiti to the United States. The wholesale price for these drugs would have exceeded $3 million," the release stated.

Christolin was convicted on Aug. 4 on unknown charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated.

Yves-Durogel has been previously sentenced to eight months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated.

Joseph had been previously sentenced to six months in prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney's Office stated.

“Dangerous drugs smuggled from overseas threaten our communities and risk serious disruption to our international carriers,” Buchanan said in the release. “We are grateful for the excellent coordination of our federal, state and local law enforcement, and international, partners who made this successful investigation and prosecution possible.”