HIALEAH, Fla. ā Alphonse EmanuelĀ Corneille is being held without bond Monday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Officers say heĀ is probably wishing he hadn't trusted a cocaine dealer in Hialeah.Ā
Corneille, 38,Ā lives in a fenced home in Miami's Little River neighborhood near Western Union and the Oasis Bodyworks Asian Spa. He was sending text messages Friday to a man who was supposed to sell him two kilos of cocaine, police said.
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Detectives say Corneille used "boxes" asĀ coded language for kilograms and "papers" asĀ coded language for cash. He and the seller -- who is a confidential informant -- made a deal at $24,500 per kilogram, according to the Hialeah Police Department.
Corneille wasĀ driving anĀ Enterprise Rent-A-Car when he showed up to a parking lot Saturday in Hialeah to meet the seller, police said. When theĀ sellerĀ didn't show up to the meeting spot, Corneille continued the deal with two men he likely didn't know were undercover narcotics detectives.Ā
"He only comes out for deals that are five kilos or more," the detective told Corneille about the seller, according to the police report.Ā
Corneille showed them the 49 bundles of $1,000 each,Ā andĀ followed them to a more discreet place, police said. He placed the cash on the table and they placed an open kilogram of cocaine wrapped in black tape on the table, police said.
"Corneille was looking around the location and was visibly nervous ... [he] began reaching into his pocket and a takedown signal was given," officers wrote in their report.Ā
The undercover detectives had placed two wrappedĀ kilos on the table when Corneille retrieved a phone from his pocket, and not a gun as they had feared, police said. He was on a call when the officers moved to arrest him, police said.
NarcoticsĀ detectivesĀ impoundedĀ 507 grams of cocaine andĀ sent them to the Miami-Dade lab for analysis in the case.Ā Prosecutors filed theĀ case Sunday in Miami-Dade County court. Corneille is facing four felony charges: Cocaine trafficking,Ā money laundering, unlawful communications andĀ using a place for the purpose of trafficking cocaine.Ā Ā
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