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The New York mother and her son tried to smuggle more than 15 pounds of heroin into Florida.
©Associated Press
January 26, 2003
FORT LAUDERDALE -- A New York woman who saddled her 9-year-old son with heroin and used him to smuggle the drugs into Florida has been sentenced to six years in prison.
U.S. District Judge William Zloch gave Sharrall Vassell, 37, of the Bronx less than the mandatory minimum 10-year sentence because it was her first offense and she cooperated with the government, Assistant U.S. Attorney Laurie Rucoba said.
Vassell and her son had more than 15 pounds of heroin from Panama hidden on their bodies when she was arrested last June, according to the U.S. Customs Service. Agents estimated the value of the drugs at about $12-million.
The two had returned to Port Everglades from a 10-day cruise when customs agents stopped them.
Both mother and son had strapped the drug around their waists in a diaper-like package, Customs Agent Sherrie Gordon wrote in an arrest affidavit. The woman also stuffed heroin in her bra.
"It's a sad case, but it was a really horrible crime," Rucoba told the Sun-Sentinel.
Vassell's attorney, Michael Mirer, could not be reached for comment.