A man from New Bedford, Massachusetts has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Portland to using a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. Jason Johnson-Rivera, also known as “Ouda,” age 20, entered his plea to one count of the superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury on March 19, 2025. His codefendants, Joshua Estrada (“Mac”), 20, and Yancarlos Abrante (“Glizzy”), 22, had previously pleaded guilty on September 25, 2025.
Court records state that on February 9, 2024, Johnson-Rivera and his codefendants fired at least five rounds from a 9mm handgun into another vehicle during a dispute related to drug trade activity. After the shooting incident and fleeing the scene, they drove their vehicle against traffic and through a red light before crashing into another passenger vehicle and a school bus. Video footage recorded by another driver showed them leaving their vehicle and fleeing on foot. According to court documents, Estrada, Abrante and others had been involved in cocaine trafficking around Saco and Biddeford since at least January 2024.
Johnson-Rivera faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of ten years along with the possibility of up to $250,000 in fines and up to five years of supervised release. Sentencing will take place after completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. The final sentence will be determined by a federal district court judge who will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with other statutory factors.
The investigation was conducted by the Saco Police Department, FBI’s Southern Maine Gang Task Force, U.S. Border Patrol, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), with help from the New Bedford Police Department.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), an initiative aimed at reducing violent crime and gun violence through collaboration between law enforcement agencies at all levels and community organizations. The program focuses on fostering trust within communities while supporting organizations that work to prevent violence before it occurs; it also sets strategic enforcement priorities and measures results. More information about Project Safe Neighborhoods can be found at https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psn.
