United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CONCORD, NH – DEA New England Division Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle and United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced today that Miguel Vasquez, 26, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison for participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, from at least January of 2017 through July of 2017, Vasquez and others made deliveries of heroin and fentanyl to customers of a drug organization working out of a residence on Water Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  Customers, including customers from New Hampshire, would call a telephone number to order drugs.  Vasquez and others would then drive to locations in Methuen, Massachusetts and elsewhere to deliver the drugs to the customers. 

Evidence in the case also indicated that the drugs distributed by this group resulted in at least one fatal fentanyl overdose in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Vasquez previously pleaded guilty on April 11, 2018.  Two other members of the conspiracy were previously sentenced.  Miguel Arias-Velasquez was sentenced to 48 months on August 17, 2018.  Walker Manuel Moreta was sentenced to 96 months on November 25, 2019.

Vasquez also faces pending fentanyl trafficking charges in Norfolk County, Massachusetts.

“Fentanyl is causing great damage to our communities,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle.  “DEA will continue to use every resource available to identify traffickers, like Mr. Vasquez who come from out of state to distribute this poison to the citizens of New Hampshire. Today’s sentence not only holds Mr. Vasquez accountable for his crimes but serves as a warning to those who are fueling the opioid epidemic.”

“Interstate fentanyl and heroin trafficking continues to pose a significant threat to communities throughout New Hampshire,” said U.S. Attorney Murray.  “Drug dealers have little regard for the lives they destroy by selling deadly substances like fentanyl and heroin.  To protect public health and safety, we will continue to work closely with all of our law enforcement colleagues to identify, prosecute, and incarcerate drug dealers who do business in the Granite State.”

This matter was investigated by the DEA, with assistance from the Massachusetts State Police, the United States Marshals Service, the New Hampshire State Police, the Lawrence Police Department, the Portsmouth Police Department, the Dover Police Department, the Rockingham County Attorney’s Office, the Quincy, Massachusetts Police Department, and the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts. 

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