Dominican National Sentenced to Federal Prison, to be Deported for Trafficking Fentanyl, Stealing Hundreds of Individuals’ Personal Information, and Defrauding the Government
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Dominican national illegally present in the United States who trafficked fentanyl, was found to be in possession of stolen personal identifying information of nearly a thousand individuals, and filed hundreds of fraudulent tax returns to obtain tens of thousands of dollars in COVID related tax credit payments has been sentenced to four years in federal prison, announced Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom.
Juan Carlos Nunez Rodriguez, 51, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, theft of government property, and three counts of aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy to 48 months in federal prison to be followed by one year of supervised release and to pay restitution to the IRS totaling $66,112.
An immigration detainer has been lodged by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
According to information presented to the court, in September 2023, following a two-month investigation into his drug trafficking activities, members of the Rhode Island DEA Drug Task Force sought and executed a court-authorized search warrant at Nunez Rodriguez’s Providence apartment, where they seized 613 grams of fentanyl. According to a DEA analysis set forth in court documents, the 613 grams of fentanyl seized represents approximately 306,500 lethal doses.
In addition to seizing fentanyl from Nunez Rodriguez’s residence, agents also seized United States Treasury checks addressed to different individuals, more than three dozen fraudulent federal tax returns in envelopes addressed to the IRS and stolen personal identifying information belonging to 976 individuals.
A follow-up investigation by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation found that Nunez Rodriguez fraudulently filed at least 15 tax returns for which he received and deposited refund checks, and that he was in possession of 43 refund checks ranging in amounts from $1,400 to $1,800.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul F. Daly, Jr.
The matter was investigated by the Rhode Island DEA Drug Task Force and IRS Criminal Investigation.
