A South Florida woman who spent nearly 15 years on the run following her conviction on a drug possession charge was sentenced to 12 years in prison Friday.
Kathia Farfan, 48, was given the sentence in federal court in Fort Lauderdale Friday, following her Sept. 30, 1998 conviction on a charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Farfan had admitted her guilt and was free on $200,000 bond when she skipped town and fled to Peru. She was arrested earlier this year while she was passing through Mexico and turned over to U.S. authorities in April, the newspaper reported.
Farfan, of Pembroke Pines, was arrested after she was caught driving a truck that contained 55 pounds of cocaine that had been smuggled by a Colombian drug cartel through Jamaica and the Bahamas to a Pompano Beach warehouse.
She admitted she was paid a few hundred dollars per trip to drive the drugs around South Florida, and had also counted money for the group.
U.S. District Judge William Zloch ordered Farfan deported to her native Peru after serving her sentence. Farfan had told the judge in Spanish that she was taking responsibility for "this terrible mistake that I made," the Sun-Sentinel reported.
"Looking back now I say to myself, it would have been better for me to have just remained here," she said.
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Photo Credit: Broward Sheriff's Office