Drug Dealer Gets 23 Years and a $3-Million Fine
A drug dealer was sentenced Friday to the maximum term of 23 years in state prison and fined more than $3 million for his role in the second-largest seizure ever of cocaine and cash in California.
The fine, imposed by Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger, was the largest ever in a trial in the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building. “We asked for a fine of over $1 million, but the judge kept going,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Grosbard said.
Tomas Llamas, 27, was convicted April 19 of conspiracy to sell cocaine and on two cocaine possession charges, Grosbard said. Llamas was the leader of a ring that authorities raided Jan. 3, 1990; they seized 71 kilograms of the drug and $3.7 million in cash. Grosbard said Llamas owns an auto body shop in the South Bay area that may be sold to help pay the fine. The cash seized in the raid already has been given to the law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation.
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