Eric Ares, a 38-year-old resident of Utica, NY, has been sentenced to a decade in federal prison for his involvement in fentanyl distribution. Ares was found guilty of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl, distributing the drug, and possessing it with an intention to distribute.
In addition to his prison sentence, Ares is obligated to pay a $200 special assessment and a $150,000 money judgment. Upon his release from prison, he will be under supervised release for five years.
Ares confessed to collaborating with the Rodriguez drug trafficking organization from May 2020 through October 2021. He acknowledged that he possessed fentanyl intending to distribute it in the Utica area. He procured fentanyl on multiple occasions in New York City and transported it back to Utica for distribution with assistance from others. On September 20, 2021, Ares admitted that he collected three kilograms of fentanyl from New York City for distribution purposes. The drugs were recovered after law enforcement intercepted Ares' vehicle. "The drugs had been inside a speaker in the trunk," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation New York Field Office.
The U.S Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York also disclosed that Ivan Rodriguez Jr., another Utica resident, received a similar ten-year sentence in federal prison for his participation in this case.
Rodriguez Jr., son of Ivan Rodriguez Sr., who led the Rodriguez drug trafficking organization, admitted that "from at least June 2021 through October 2021, he conspired with Ares and other defendants to 'possess with the intent to distribute and to distribute fentanyl and a mixture of fentanyl/heroin in and around Oneida County and elsewhere,'" as per a separate news release dated May 2. Rodriguez Jr. also confessed that he, along with his father and Ares, coordinated the purchase, pickup, and delivery of three kilograms of fentanyl and a mixture of fentanyl/heroin from a supplier. This supply was subsequently redistributed in the Utica, New York area by him and others acting on his behalf.
