BOSTON - A California man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for distributing methamphetamine from California to Massachusetts.
Christopher Halfond, 37, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge George A. O’Toole Jr. to 140 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release. In April 2018, Halfond pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine.
After a two-year investigation, Halfond and 10 others from Massachusetts and California were indicted in 2016 on methamphetamine distribution and money laundering charges. Beginning in at least 2013, the defendants participated in a conspiracy to transport sizeable quantities of methamphetamine from San Diego, Calif., to Massachusetts, where it was distributed in the greater Boston area. Proceeds from the drug sales were then transported and/or transferred back to California and laundered in various ways.
Halfond, who was previously from Massachusetts, agreed to send packages containing methamphetamine from California back to Massachusetts. In January 2016, agents learned that Halfond had sent a methamphetamine package to Massachusetts. After the package was delivered, agents executed a search warrant and seized the package, which contained approximately 434 grams of 95% pure methamphetamine.
Halfond is the first of the defendants to be sentenced. The remaining defendants have each pleaded guilty to various charges and are awaiting sentencing.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; William Ferrara, Director of Field Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross made the announcement. The Massachusetts Department of Correction; Norfolk County Sherriff’s Office; Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office; the Reading, Watertown, Quincy, Chelsea, Braintree, Peabody, Waltham, and Woburn Police Departments; and Connecticut State Police assisted with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys James E. Arnold and Jared C. Dolan of Lelling’s Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit are prosecuting the cases.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
