News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2003

THIRD DEFENDANT SENTENCED IN SALEM MARIJUANA RING CASE

SEPT 30—Concord, NH…Sean BOYD sentenced to 51 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to a marijuana distribution charges.

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England; Chief, Paul Donovan Salem Police Department and United States Attorney Tom Colantuono, announced that Sean BOYD, date of birth June 28, 1976, of Haverhill, Massachusetts was sentenced today on federal marijuana distribution charges.

On July 1, 2003, BOYD entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Joseph A. DiClerico to an information charging him with possession with intent to distribute marijuana. At the sentencing Judge DiClerico imposed a sentence of 51 months (4 years, 3 months) imprisonment followed by a 4-year period of supervised release during which Boyd's behavior will be monitored by the U.S. Department of Probation.

BOYD was arrested in November, 2002 along with seven others as part of a sting operation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration's Northern New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (" New England HIDTA") Task Force and the Salem Police Department. A Criminal Complaint against these individuals, issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge James R. Muirhead on January 22, 2003, alleged that they participated in a conspiracy to distribute over 100 kilos of marijuana in southeastern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts between January, 2000 and November, 2002.

BOYD is the third of the eight to be sentenced. Co-defendants Jason MESSINA, James SPITALERE, and Jose L. MADERA of Methuen, Massachusetts, James CLARK of Haverhill, Massachusetts, Arthur SOBERON of Salem, New Hampshire, and James GLOVER, Sr., of Lawrence, Massachusetts have already entered guilty pleas to marijuana marijuana trafficking charges.

Press Contact: Anthony J. Pettigrew, (617) 557-2138