Massachusetts Fentanyl Ring: Member Escapes Prison

BOSTON, MA – A member of a Taunton drug ring whose reach extended to Boston and up into Maine escaped prison during her sentencing this week. Stephanie O'Sullivan, 31, of Taunton, was sentenced to time served and three years supervised release after pleading guilty to fentanyl and heroin possession with intent to distribute in federal court in Boston. The leader of the ring — Fernando Hernandez, of Providence, Rhode Island — was sentenced to 15 years in prison earlier this year.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said O'Sullivan purchased fentanyl and heroin from Hernandez and redistributed it. She was one of 23 members of the ring arrested in a series of raids in February 2017, Lelling said. The ring sold more than a kilogram of heroin over a two-month period in the summer of 2016, he added.

Police said the arrests struck a major blow to the illegal opioid market in Eastern Massachusetts.

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