A man from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for trafficking fentanyl into Maine. Rafael Omar Ojeda Lopez, 44, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Lance E. Walker to 57 months of imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release.
The case against Lopez stemmed from an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA). Court records revealed that in September 2023, a confidential source working with HSI agents negotiated the purchase of a kilogram of fentanyl from Lopez for $40,000 after several smaller test purchases. The transaction was set to occur in Rockland, Maine, where HSI agents arrested Lopez and seized the drugs.
The confiscated substance was later confirmed to contain a mixture of fentanyl, caffeine, heroin, and xylazine—a tranquilizer not reversible by naloxone—posing increased risks of overdose death for users.
This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. The OCDETF program targets high-level drug traffickers and transnational criminal organizations through a collaborative effort involving federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.
