Natick Man Pleads Guilty to Heroin and Fentanyl Charges

By Charlene Arsenault

A Natick man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with selling heroin and white heroin – heroin laced with fentanyl and/or straight fentanyl – to addicts, one of whom ultimately died after overdosing.

Nicholas Ferraro, 25, of Natick, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute fentanyl and 100 grams or more of heroin, one count of distribution of fentanyl and two counts of distribution of heroin, according to an announcement from United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, District of Massachusetts.

Ferraro is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 21 at 2 p.m.

According to reports, Ferraro conspired between January of 2013 and March of 2014 with others to distribute fentanyl to addicts in the Framingham and Natick areas.

He pleaded guilty to distributing 400 to 600 grams of heroin and 10 to 15 grams of fentanyl. Ferraro also distributed fentanyl to a person on Feb. 8, 2014, who later died of an overdose after injecting himself with the fentanyl. Ferraro also sold heroin on two occasions in March 2014 to an undercover officer, said the announcement.

This case was brought as part of the federal response to the growing opioid abuse epidemic in Massachusetts and other New England states. A recent surge in overdose deaths has been attributed in part to the addition of fentanyl to heroin, creating a toxic mixture substantially more potent, and more dangerous, than heroin alone.

Ferraro could face up to 40 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of four years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $5 million.