A Massachusetts man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for his participation in a massive drug trafficking conspiracy involving fentanyl, cocaine, and other controlled substances that spanned Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, and Puerto Rico.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley sentenced 34-year-old Elvis DeJesus to 15 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. DeJesus pleaded guilty in June 2024 to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, 500 grams or more of cocaine, and other banned narcotics. DeJesus was charged in December 2021, along with 20 others.
An investigation into a drug trafficking network centered in Lawrence began in May 2020. From December 2020 to December 2021, intercepted conversations between the investigation’s targets and their associates revealed that the defendants supplied fentanyl and cocaine in and around Lawrence. Some of the cocaine was purchased from vendors in Puerto Rico and sent to Massachusetts via the United States mail.
DeJesus, along with other co-defendants, ran a wholesale fentanyl and cocaine distribution enterprise until August 2021, when he was arrested on state firearm charges. In February 2021, $75,930 was recovered from co-defendant Luis Martinez after Martinez received cocaine earnings from DeJesus outside his home. In April 2021, authorities confiscated a box containing 978 grams of cocaine that was shipped from Puerto Rico to DeJesus’ home. DeJesus recovered 200 grams of cocaine from co-defendant Othoniel Lara Gonzalez in March 2021. Boston Restaurant Guide
Following his arrest on state firearms charges, DeJesus was placed in state custody. DeJesus continued to run his drug distribution operation from jail. Over 500 grams of fentanyl and over 100 grams of cocaine were seized in November 2021 while co-defendant William Rivadeneira was carrying them on DeJesus’ behalf. Prior to the seizure, DeJesus intercepted and chastised Rivadeneira for failing to take proper care when preparing the fentanyl for distribution, warning him, “[Y]ou can get an overdose.”
In November 2021, DeJesus and his co-conspirators bribed co-defendant Gregorit Sanchez, a former Corrections Officer at Middleton House of Corrections, where DeJesus was held, to smuggle a package containing fentanyl, cocaine, Suboxone, and other contraband into jail. When Sanchez attempted to enter the jail, authorities seized his package.
In February 2025, Luis Martinez was sentenced to five years in jail, followed by four years of supervised release. In January 2023, Othoniel Lara Gonzalez was sentenced to three years in jail followed by three years of supervised release. William Rivadeneira pleaded guilty in March 2024 and is set for sentencing on August 22, 2025. Gregorit Sanchez received a five-year probation term in June 2024, with the first year served in home detention.
This operation is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which calls for the formation of permanent multi-agency task force teams to work together in the same place. This co-located concept allows agents from several agencies to work together on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and international criminal organizations.
The statement was made by United States Attorney Leah B. Foley, Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England, and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England Field Office. The Lawrence Police Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Massachusetts State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Essex County Sheriff’s Office all gave special assistance. Assistant United States Attorneys Katherine Ferguson and J. Mackenzie Duane prosecuted the case. Boston Restaurant Guide
