United States Drug Enforcement Administration

(BANGOR, Maine - Michael J. Ferguson, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Barry Diaz - , 32, of Stamford, Connecticut, was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court by Judge John A. Woodcock, to 22½ years in prison to be followed by six years of supervised release for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and unlawful use of a telephone.  Diaz pleaded guilty to the charges on December 20, 2013.

According to Court documents, Diaz and others acquired oxycodone pills outside of Maine.  Some of these pills were obtained from people in Connecticut who diverted lawfully issued oxycodone prescriptions.  Others were obtained in bulk from California and elsewhere. The pills were transported to Maine by Diaz or other conspirators working with him and were given to street level dealers for distribution in Kennebec County and elsewhere.  During the investigation, law enforcement officers seized more than 600 30-mg oxycodone pills from members of the conspiracy.
           
According to the evidence presented at the trial of Diaz’s co-defendant, Mark Razo, Diaz and Razo operated the interstate drug conspiracy while Razo was serving a drug sentence in a California state prison.  Razo used contraband cellular telephones from inside the prison to arrange transactions, recruit couriers and cause the transport of drugs across the United States.  Diaz was Razo’s point person for distribution of drugs across the country.  A four pound methamphetamine shipment that was seized in Iowa was among the drug shipments orchestrated by Diaz and Razo.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, the Southeast Iowa Drug Task Force, the Wapello (Iowa) Sheriff’s Office, investigators from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the (Connecticut) Police Department, the (Maine) Police Department, and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.  The investigation was part of the ongoing effort of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (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.