BOSTON - A Worcester man was sentenced today in federal court in Worcester for his role in a heroin and cocaine trafficking conspiracy that operated throughout Worcester County.
Osvaldo Vasquez, 49, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to 125 months in prison and four years of supervised release. In May 2017, Vasquez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and 100 grams or more of heroin; one count of distribution and possession with the intent to distribute heroin; one count of distribution and possession with the intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin; one count of possession with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and 100 grams or more of heroin; and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a narcotics trafficking offense. Vasquez is the final of five co-defendants to be sentenced in connection with the conspiracy.
In the late summer of 2014, federal agents began investigating narcotics trafficking activities by Osvaldo Vasquez and his associates, Jose Federico Vasquez, Felix Melendez, Elvis Genao and Hugo Santana-Dones. Between November 2014 and July 2015, with the help of a cooperating witness, agents made numerous recorded purchases of heroin - sometimes laced with fentanyl - from members of the conspiracy, seizing over 400 grams of heroin as a result.
During a court-authorized wiretap, Vasquez and his co-defendants were heard discussing the purchase and sale of multiple kilograms of narcotics and demonstrated an awareness of the potential deadly consequences of the narcotics they were distributing. On May 7, 2016, Osvaldo Vasquez, Melendez, and Federico Vasquez were intercepted discussing how the high number of heroin overdose deaths occurring at the time were cutting into their sales.
A search of Osvaldo Vasquez’s home in Worcester resulted in 679 grams of heroin, 723 grams of cocaine and a Taurus PT.380 semi-automatic handgun being recovered. The telephone that was the subject of the wiretap, cutting agents, and over $7,000 in cash were also recovered in the home. At the residence of Santana-Dones in Leominster, 224 grams of heroin, 110 grams of cocaine, and 8.9 grams of cocaine base (crack cocaine), along with cutting agents, a hydraulic kilogram press, over $1,300 in cash and two phones that had been intercepted on the wiretap were recovered. At the residence of Melendez, who was on parole for state firearm and narcotics charges at the time, 3.1 grams of cocaine, a digital scale, over $1,000 in cash and a phone that had been intercepted on the wiretap were recovered. At the residence of Jose Federico Vasquez in Providence, agents recovered 3.4 grams of cocaine.
Santana-Dones, Melendez, Federico Vasquez, and Genao each pleaded guilty to their roles in the conspiracy and were sentenced to 80 months in prison, 70 months in prison, five years in prison, and 37 months in prison, respectively.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael J. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Worcester Police Chief Steven M. Sargent; Fitchburg Police Chief Ernest F. Martineau; and Leominster Interim Police Chief Michael Goldman, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Grady of Weinreb’s Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the cases.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
