The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the convictions and 180-month concurrent sentences of Victor Yoel Perez Cremades for conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl. The appellate court found that the evidence presented at trial was overwhelmingly sufficient to support the jury’s guilty verdict on both counts, even setting aside the controversial admission of a handwritten notebook described as a “drug ledger.”
Cremades had appealed his conviction, arguing primarily that the evidence was too circumstantial to prove he knew about and possessed the drugs, and secondarily, that the trial court wrongly allowed the prosecution to introduce a handwritten list—dubbed a “drug ledger”—without proper foundational proof of its significance.
The Evidence: A Trail of Drugs and Money
The case against Cremades centered on a sophisticated drug operation uncovered in Tampa, Florida. In September 2021, law enforcement intercepted a FedEx package addressed to a fictitious name (“Oliver Holme”) at an address in Tampa. Inside, they found nearly four pounds of methamphetamine and over 1,200 fentanyl-laced pills, totaling roughly $40,000 worth of narcotics.
Crucially, investigators traced the package’s origin to Nogales, Arizona—a known smuggling hub near the Mexican border—and linked the Tampa shipping address to Victor Cremades through utility records.
After replacing the drugs with inert materials, authorities delivered the package to the Tampa residence. Cremades’ 14-year-old daughter accepted it. Shortly after, police executed a search warrant. Cremades was absent, but the evidence inside the rented home strongly implicated him.
Possession and Intent to Distribute
To secure a conviction on the possession with intent to distribute charge (Count II), the government needed to prove knowledge, possession, and intent to distribute. The Eleventh Circuit found ample evidence for all three elements.
The court noted that Cremades was linked to the residence because his mail, identification (including a Social Security card and passport), and utilities were all associated with the home. Furthermore, he had been seen outside the residence on the morning of the search.
Inside a closet, agents discovered a purple duffel bag containing over 3,000 grams of 99% pure methamphetamine, vacuum-sealed in individual bags—a packaging method law enforcement testified is indicative of distribution, not personal use. The bag also held over 7,000 fentanyl pills matching those found in the intercepted package.
The intent to distribute was further bolstered by the sheer quantity of high-purity drugs, which the court deemed “far more than that involved in personal use.”
Adding context to the operation, agents found several financial records: $4,800 in cash hidden in the bedroom and closet, and two separate Western Union receipts showing Cremades had recently sent $1,500 to a “Jose Romero Espinosa” in Nogales—the origin city of the package. A handwritten note referencing this transfer was also found in the kitchen, near where agents discovered another bag of high-purity methamphetamine under a trash can.
The court cited its precedent in United States v. Cochran, finding that the evidence linking Cremades to the residence, the drugs, and the financial transactions was more than enough for a reasonable jury to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Conspiracy Conviction Upheld
Regarding the conspiracy charge (Count I), the Eleventh Circuit reasoned that since the evidence overwhelmingly supported the possession and intent to distribute counts, it logically followed that a jury could reasonably infer an illegal agreement existed. The presence of large drug quantities, significant cash, and transfers linked to the drug source city provided a solid basis for concluding Cremades knowingly and voluntarily joined the distribution scheme.
The “Drug Ledger” Dispute
Cremades’ second major challenge involved the admission of a photograph of a spiral notebook containing a handwritten list of names and corresponding numbers. Cremades objected, claiming the government failed to lay a proper foundation, arguing it was merely a speculative list, not proven to be a “drug ledger.”
The district court overruled the objection. FBI agents testified that such lists are commonly used in narcotics distribution to track money or orders.
The Eleventh Circuit reviewed this evidentiary ruling under the highly deferential “abuse of discretion” standard. However, the panel determined that even if the admission of the ledger was an error, it was harmless.
The court emphasized that when overwhelming evidence of guilt exists, a minor evidentiary error will not lead to reversal, as it did not affect the defendant’s “substantial rights.”
“We’ve recounted the overwhelming evidence supporting both convictions in our sufficiency-of-the-evidence discussion,” the opinion stated, “And we did that without even mentioning anything about the drug ledger.”
Because the evidence supporting the convictions—the drugs, the cash, the utility bills, the international money transfers to the source city—was so robust, the court concluded it was “inconceivable that the jury would have returned a different verdict” had the ledger been excluded. Therefore, the conviction was affirmed.