Providence Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Trafficking Cocaine and Fentanyl
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Providence man, who court records show has been convicted multiple times on various felony drug, firearm, and/or assault charges, has been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking in fentanyl and crack cocaine, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.
According to information presented to the court, in early 2020, while on state probation for an unrelated felony firearm conviction in state court, Josimar Pereira, 36, in the course of six transactions in a one-month period, sold a total of more than $6,300 worth of cocaine and fentanyl to another person while under surveillance by members of the FBI’s Rhode Island Safe Streets Gang Task Force. On each occasion, the drugs were quickly seized by Task Force agents.
In December 2022, Pereira pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of distribution of cocaine and a charge of distribution of fentanyl. He was sentenced on May 15, 2023, by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy to forty-four months in federal prison to be followed by three years of federal supervised release,
According to court records, at the time of his arrest in this matter Pereira was serving a term of state probation related to his 2018 conviction in Rhode Island Superior Court on a charge of possession of a sawed-off shotgun or rifle.
The most recent case filed against Pereira was prosecuted in U.S. District Court by Assistant United States Attorney Stacey A. Erickson.
