3 Charged In Connection To Cocaine Conspiracy: District Attorney

BOSTON — Three men were charged Tuesday in federal court in Boston for their roles in a cocaine conspiracy, the District Attorney's office announced Wednesday. The announcement comes after data released by the Massachusetts public health data released Wednesday indicates deaths involving fentanyl and cocaine continue to rise in the state.

Luis Alfredo Baez, 51, and Luis Mejia Guerrero, 58, both of Boston, and Cesar Rodriguez-Sanquentin, 26, of Methuen were each charged by criminal complaint with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. The three men appeared in federal court and were each ordered detained pending a detention hearing.

According to court documents, in 2018, federal and state law enforcement began investigating members of a drug trafficking organization in and around the Boston area. The investigation revealed that Baez and Guerrero distributed large quantities of narcotics, including cocaine, from a home base in Dorchester, police said. Law enforcement said they identified Rodriguez-Sanquentin as a drug trafficker from the Lawrence area.

On May 13, agents arrested Rodriguez-Sanquentin and seized more than a kilogram of cocaine that they said he was on his way to deliver to Baez. Later that day, agents arrested Baez and Guerrero and subsequently executed several search warrants, which resulted in the seizure of cell phones, materials commonly used to package drugs for street level sale, digital scales and approximately $68,000 in cash.

The charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a minimum of three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health data, since 2014, the rate of heroin or likely heroin present in opioid-related overdose deaths has been decreasing while the presence of fentanyl and cocaine is still trending upward.

Among the 1,902 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2018 where a toxicology screen was also available, 1,695 of them (89%) had a positive screen result for fentanyl. In the fourth quarter of 2018, heroin or likely heroin was present in approximately 32% of opioid-related overdose deaths that had a toxicology screen. Cocaine was present in approximately 39% of these deaths and benzodiazepines were present in approximately 40%

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).