United States Drug Enforcement Administration

MASSACHUSETTS – A Worcester man was sentenced yesterday in connection with a fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine trafficking conspiracy.

Robert Young, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to five years in prison and three years of supervised release. In October 2018, Young pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, cocaine base and fentanyl.

In April 2017, law enforcement began investigating drug sales made by Young and co-conspirator Daniel Donald on Groton Street in Worcester. On Nov. 30, 2017, a search of a “hide” between the exterior and interior walls of a building on the Groton Street property resulted in the seizure of one kilogram of cocaine, 345 grams of heroin, over 80 grams of crack cocaine, approximately 200 pills containing fentanyl and a loaded 9 mm firearm. Donald and Young were arrested and have been in custody since that time.

On Oct. 29, 2021, Donald was convicted by a federal jury of one count of possession with intent to distribute over 100 grams of heroin, over 500 grams of cocaine, over 28 grams of cocaine base (a/k/a crack cocaine), and fentanyl and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Judge Hillman scheduled sentencing for March 1, 2022.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; and Worcester Police Chief Stephen Sargent made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office and the Westborough, Wellesley, Douglas and Southbridge Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg A. Friedholm, Chief of Mendell’s Worcester Branch Office, and John Mulcahy, of Mendell’s Criminal Division, prosecuted the case. 

The operation was conducted by a multi-agency task force through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply. More information on the OCDETF program is available here: https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.