United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CONCORD, N.H. – A New Hampshire man pleaded guilty in federal court to two separate drug trafficking conspiracies, U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan announces. 

Joseph Lara, 50, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, specifically methamphetamine. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph N. Laplante scheduled Lara’s sentencing for November 23, 2026.

According to the court documents and statements made in court, beginning in early 2022, the DEA identified Lara as a New Hampshire-based drug trafficker. DEA’s investigation determined that from late-2020 or early 2021 and continuing through February 2022, Lara conspired with Robert Perez, a California-based drug trafficker, to purchase a total of 30 pounds of methamphetamine over three occasions from Perez in California that Lara shipped back to New Hampshire for distribution. Perez previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and in 2023 was sentenced to ten years in federal prison.  

Lara also pleaded guilty to a second drug trafficking conspiracy investigated by the FBI.  From late-2023 through July 2025, Lara obtained large quantities of methamphetamine for distribution in New Hampshire from a Massachusetts-based drug trafficking organization led by Alexander Aguasvivas-Pena, who was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for his crimes.  

The charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of ten years up to life, not less than 5 years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $10,000,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

The investigation was led by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federl Burau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennfer C. Davis and Yasir Sadat are prosecuting the case. 

This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF New Hampshire comprises agents and officers from FBI, HSI, IRS, DEA, ATF, USMS, and DSS with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire.