CONCORD - Christian Villar, 26, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to participating in a fentanyl trafficking conspiracy, United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced today.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on Jan. 24, 2019, co-conspirators Geovanny Rafael Perdomo-Mancebo and Zorelys Sosa planned to sell a quantity of fentanyl to a customer who was actually an undercover DEA agent. Due to the large quantity of fentanyl being sold, Perdomo-Mancebo and Sosa recruited Villar to hold the fentanyl in a safe location while they retrieved payment from the customer. Perdomo-Mancebo and Sosa dropped Villar off at a restaurant with the fentanyl shortly before departing to meet the customer outside a store in New Hampshire, at which time they were stopped and arrested. Villar was found to be in possession of 128.6 grams of a fentanyl.
Villar is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, 2020. Co-conspirator Perdomo-Mancebo is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22, 2020. Sosa is scheduled to be sentenced on April 21, 2020.
“Interstate fentanyl traffickers are engaged in a criminal enterprise that makes a lethal substance available for sale in New Hampshire," said U.S. Attorney Murray. “Stopping the activities of these conspirators serves to protect the health and safety of our citizens. We will continue to closely coordinate with DEA and all of our law enforcement partners to shut down the interstate supply line for these drugs."
This matter was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Davis and Jarad Hodes.
This case was supported 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
