Drug dealer sent to jail after crash kills friend
A Rochester drug dealer who crashed his car while trying to elude police, killing his best friend, said he’s sorry for the death as he was ordered to prison today.
“I’d like to apologize to Omar Marquez’s family for what occurred…and hope that one day they’ll forgive me,” Reynaldo Bonilla said before U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer ordered him to spend 10 years, one month in federal prison. “He was my best friend. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt nobody.”
Larimer said the death, while accidental, was a consequence of the drug trade.
“I’m sure you would like to take back all of the things you did…but of course this is the real, hard world and you can’t do that,” Larimer said.
Bonilla, 25, was fleeing a drug investigation by State Police in northeast Rochester on June 25, 2007, when he lost control of his car and hit a tree on North Clinton Avenue, killing Marquez, 27.
Investigators found drugs and weapons in the car. Bonilla pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of cocaine — more than one pound.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank H. Sherman said Bonilla didn’t face state charges in connection with Marquez’s death because federal sentencing guidelines took the death into account.
Although Bonilla faced up to 20 years in federal prison for the drug charge, prosecutors recommended a lesser sentence because his cooperation helped result in convictions for three others involved in drug trafficking.
After being given credit for more than two years he has been in custody and receiving time off for good behavior, Bonilla could be released from prison in 6 ½ years, said his lawyer, Rudolph J. LePore.
