California man sentenced to 140 months in prison for supplying methamphetamine to Boston-based drug ring
BOSTON – A California man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for distributing methamphetamine from California to Massachusetts.
Christopher Halfond, 37, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr., to 140 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release. In April 2018, Halfond pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and distribution of methamphetamine.
After a two-year investigation, Halfond and 10 others from Massachusetts and California were indicted in 2016 on methamphetamine distribution and money laundering charges. Beginning in at least 2013, the defendants participated in a conspiracy to transport sizeable quantities of methamphetamine from San Diego to Massachusetts, where it was distributed in the greater Boston area. Proceeds from the drug sales were then transported and/or transferred back to California and laundered in various ways.
Halfond, who was previously from Massachusetts, agreed to send packages containing methamphetamine from California back to Massachusetts. In January 2016, agents learned that Halfond had sent a methamphetamine package to Massachusetts. After the package was delivered, agents executed a search warrant and seized the package, which contained approximately 434 grams of 95 percent pure methamphetamine.
Halfond is the first of the defendants to be sentenced. The remaining defendants have each pleaded guilty to various charges and are awaiting sentencing.
DEA New England Division Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle; United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta; Special Agent in Charge Kristina O’Connell of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; Director of Field Operations William Ferrara, of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross made the announcement. The Massachusetts Department of Correction, Norfolk County Sherriff’s Office, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the Reading, Watertown, Quincy, Chelsea, Braintree, Peabody, Waltham and Woburn Police Departments and Connecticut State Police assisted with the investigation.
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