Concord - United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced that Joshua Smith, 31, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 180 months in prison for participating in a conspiracy to distribute over 400 grams of fentanyl and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
According to court documents and statements made in court, a drug trafficking organization that authorities allege was led by Sergio Martinez, employed the defendant to sell fentanyl to customers from various New England States, including New Hampshire. On each day that the defendant worked, the Martinez organization provided him with at least one 200-gram bag of fentanyl and expected him to sell it and return approximately $6,000 in proceeds. The defendant worked for the Martinez organization on various days. On Oct. 20, 2017, the defendant was arrested while selling drugs for the organization. At the time, he possessed a firearm that he admitted to carrying to avoid being robbed by drug customers.
Smith previously pleaded guilty on Dec. 18, 2018.
“Fentanyl traffickers who carry firearms present an enhanced danger to the public." said U.S. Attorney Murray. “The law enforcement community is united in its effort to stop the flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs into New Hampshire. In order to protect the community, we will seek lengthy prison sentences for fentanyl traffickers, particularly those who use guns to further their criminal activities."
“Fentanyl is causing deaths in record numbers and DEA’s top priority is to aggressively pursue anyone who distributes this poison," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle. “Today’s sentence not only holds Mr. Smith accountable for his crimes but serves as a warning to those traffickers who are fueling the opioid epidemic."
This investigation was conducted by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.
The case was a collaborative investigation that involved the DEA; the New Hampshire State Police; the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office; the Nashua Police Department; the Massachusetts State Police; the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office; the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office; the Essex County District Attorney’s Office; the Internal Revenue Service; Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; United States Customs and Border Protection Boston Field Office; the United States Marshals Service; the United States Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; the Manchester Police Department; the Lisbon Police Department; the Littleton Police Department; the Seabrook Police Department; the Haverhill (MA) Police Department; the Methuen (MA) Police Department; the Lowell (MA) Police Department; and the Maine State Police.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Georgiana L. Konesky and Seth R. Aframe.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
