BOSTON - A Westborough man pleaded guilty on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 in federal court in Worcester to trafficking contraband smokeless tobacco into Massachusetts.
Muhammad Mushtaq Balaparaya, 60, pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in contraband smokeless tobacco. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for Aug. 20, 2021.
According to court documents, between December 2014 and October 2016, and again between July 2017 and April 2018, Balaparaya transported more than 500 units of contraband smokeless tobacco in violation of federal law. Balaparaya imported the contraband smokeless tobacco into Massachusetts from Pennsylvania, where he had obtained it. At no time was Balaparaya licensed to sell or distribute tobacco products in Massachusetts, nor had Balaparaya paid the required excise tax on the smokeless tobacco products that agents seized from him.
The charging statute provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison for each count, up to three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 and restitution. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Kelly D. Brady, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg A. Friedholm and John T. Mulcahy of Mendell’s Worcester Branch Office are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
