SAP - Servicios Aéreos Profesionales (PSV, Santo Domingo La Isabela) Chief Executive Officer Jose Miguel Patin has been detained in Miami since December 12 on charges of drug trafficking, as reported in Dominican news site Acento.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has not issued a formal statement, nor has SAP Group. The Miami Federal Department of Corrections website indicates that Patin is being held there for an unspecified period of time.
Florida news outlet FlKeysNews reports that Patin has been charged with conspiracy with intent to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, and two counts of possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine. He has been charged alongside Wilkin de Jesús Matos Feliz. Patin allegedly used a variety of ways to bring narcotics into the USA, including aboard his aircraft in to Fort Lauderdale Executive. If found guilty, Patin and Feliz could face a minimum of ten years in jail. Both men pleaded not guilty in the U.S. District Court on December 21.
SAP is a passenger charter carrier based out of Santo Domingo which operates various Learjets, Jetstream 31/32s, DHC-6-100s, and smaller Cessna (single piston) light aircraft on flights throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and the United States.
In a similar case in 2012, a Central and South American drug ring was busted leading to the arrest of Rafael Rosado Senen, owner of another Dominican carrier, Caribair (Santo Domingo Herrera), for using the airline's aircraft to smuggle narcotics.
