Press Release  Lawrence Men Plead Guilty, Sentenced in Connection with Fentanyl Trafficking Operation

Lawrence — Two Lawrence men have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced in connection with running a fentanyl trafficking operation, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today. These are the first convictions secured by the AG’s Office under the new law that criminalizes the trafficking of the deadly drug.

Regla Santana (a.k.a. Miguel Carrasquillo) age 49, and Antonio Rivera, age 48, pleaded guilty Friday in Essex Superior Court to the charges of Trafficking Fentanyl (two counts each), Conspiracy to Violate the Controlled Substances Act (one count each). Santana also pleaded guilty to Furnishing a False Name at Arrest (one count).

Following the plea, Judge Thomas Drechsler sentenced each defendant to serve three to four years in state prison. Rivera was sentenced to serve two years of probation following the committed sentence. The AG’s Office recommended a sentence of eight to nine years in state prison, followed by five years of probation for Santana and a sentence of nine to ten years followed by five years of probation for Rivera.

“Fentanyl caused opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts to skyrocket to nearly 2,000 last year,” said AG Healey. “My office is continuing to work hard on all fronts to combat this epidemic, including going after drug traffickers who pump this deadly drug onto our streets.”

In August 2016, an Essex County Grand Jury indicted Santana, Rivera and Milciades Castillo-Franco (a.k.a. Jose Nogue Resto, a.k.a. Tony) age 42, also of Lawrence, on fentanyl trafficking charges. The case against Castillo-Franco is still pending.

Following an investigation that began in February 2016, Castillo-Franco and Santana were arrested April 20 in a joint operation with State Police assigned to the AG’s Office and the Transportation Drug Unit (TDU) with assistance from the New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (NEHIDTA) and the Lawrence Police Department. State Police assigned to the AG’s Office and the TDU arrested Rivera in September in Lawrence with assistance from Lawrence Police and the NEHIDTA. 

Authorities executed a search warrant for a Lawrence house where the defendants were allegedly selling the drugs. Authorities seized approximately 82 grams of fentanyl, seven pounds of narcotic mixing cut and materials known to be associated with drug packaging and distribution.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is estimated to be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more powerful than heroin. Drug traffickers frequently mix the drug with heroin, without the knowledge of the buyer. It can be deadly in even low doses.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health estimates that 1,979 people – the highest number ever recorded in the state and a 13 percent increase year-over-year – died from opioid overdoses in 2016. The number of deaths from opioid overdoses involving fentanyl continued to climb last year. Of the 1,979 estimated deaths from opioid overdoses, there was a toxicology test available for 70 percent (1,374) and of those, 75 percent tested positive for fentanyl (1,031). Essex County is among the four counties in the state with the highest rate of overdoses.

Legislation to criminalize the trafficking of fentanyl, filed by AG Healey and then House Judiciary Chairman John Fernandes (D-Milford), went into effect in February 2016. Prior to the law going into effect, drug traffickers could only be charged with the lesser crimes of manufacturing, distributing or possessing fentanyl, regardless of the quantity of the drug they were caught with.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Megan McLaughlin of AG Healey’s Enterprise, Major and Cyber Crimes Division, with assistance from State Police assigned to the AG’s Office, the Massachusetts State Police Transportation Drug Unit (TDU), the New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (NEHIDTA), the Lawrence Police Department and the AG’s Digital Evidence Lab.

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