A man from Texas has been sentenced to over five years in federal prison for his role in a drug conspiracy involving oxycodone distribution and structuring cash transactions.
Christan Russell, aged 33, from Tomball, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper in Boston to 70 months imprisonment, plus three years of supervised release. He must also pay a fine of $30,000. In October 2024, Russell had pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess oxycodone, along with structuring cash transactions to avoid detection. He was indicted in August 2023 alongside five others.
From February to July 2023, Russell supplied oxycodone pills to Kenneth Veiga, who then redistributed them to Austin Gonsalves and John Campbell. Russell sourced these pills from various locations in the Houston area. On March 13, 2023, he traveled to Boston to deliver the drugs to Veiga in a Rhode Island hotel room. The next day, he made four structured cash deposits at Boston ATMs, each under $10,000, to evade reporting to the IRS.
Veiga received a 60-month sentence in July 2024, also with three years of supervised release. Gonsalves was sentenced to 41 months in May 2024, while Campbell received a four-year sentence in January 2025, both also followed by supervised release.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley, together with several law enforcement officials, including Stephen Belleau of the DEA, Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble of the Massachusetts State Police, Thomas Demeo of the IRS, and Ketty Larco-Ward of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The investigation received support from multiple agencies and police departments.
The case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) initiative, aimed at combating high-level criminal organizations in the United States through coordinated efforts among various agencies. More information about OCDETF is available at the Department of Justice's website.
