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Merrimack Valley

Man looking at 15 years in jail Jury returns guilty verdict

By Jim Patten
Staff Writer
Published: May 14, 2008

LAWRENCE — A jury found Angel Ayala Roque of Methuen guilty of cocaine trafficking and conspiracy yesterday.

On Tuesday, a judge will decide how much time Roque, 46, will spend behind bars — the mandatory minimum sentence is 15 years.

Roque, of 50 Glen Ave., was arrested in September 2006, accused of returning a minivan to a rental agency with 21 2.2-pound bricks of cocaine, and storing 30 more 2.2-pound bricks in his apartment, which police found in a subsequent search.

After four hours of deliberations yesterday, the Lawrence Superior Court jury found Roque not guilty of trafficking more than 200 grams of cocaine in the minivan, and guilty of trafficking the cocaine found in his home and conspiracy to violate drug laws.

Nicole Paquette, 32, of Haverhill, a codefendant in the case, was convicted in February. The mother of four was sentenced to serve 15 years for cocaine trafficking.

Judge John Lu put off sentencing Roque until Tuesday at 9 a.m. Lu wanted time to consider the disparate sentencing recommendations from Assistant District Attorney Michael Hickey and defense lawyer John Cicilline.

Saying Roque was "more involved" in the cocaine enterprise than Paquette, Hickey yesterday asked the judge to sentence Roque to 19 to 20 years in prison on the trafficking conviction and 5 to 10 years "on and after" the trafficking sentence for the conspiracy conviction.

"Up until recently this was the largest cocaine seizure in Essex County," Hickey told Lu.

Cicilline argued the opposite, saying Paquette was demonstrably more involved because of her repeated rentals of the vehicles used to transport the cocaine.

He asked for the mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years on the trafficking charge, and 10 years on the conspiracy charge, to be served concurrently.

Roque stood impassively as the jury forewoman announced the verdicts.

Earlier in the morning, a juror was dismissed by Lu when the jury forewoman sent Lu a note indicating that a juror told the others that he had seen Roque's arrest on television and the police officers were smiling. Lu interviewed each juror separately, and later appointed an alternate to take his place. Lu then instructed the jurors to begin deliberations anew.

Cicilline's request for a mistrial was denied by Lu.

Both Hickey and Cicilline refused to comment on the verdicts.

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