News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2004

Two North Shore Men Indicted on Federal Drug Charges

Boston, MA... Two North Shore men were indicted recently by a federal Grand Jury alleging they were involved in a conspiracy to distribute Oxycodone, a prescription pain medication found in brand name pain relievers such as OxyContin.

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New England; United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Mark Dragonetti, Resident Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation; Joseph A. Galasso, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; and Robert Champagne, Chief of the Peabody Police Department, announced that CHRISTOPHER ALVITI, age 22, of 5 Trask Court, Beverly, Massachusetts and RICHARD W. GOULD, age 25, of 10 Druid Avenue, Peabody, Massachusetts, were charged on August 18, 2004, in a federal indictment with Conspiracy to Distribute Oxycodone, Possession of Oxycodone with the Intent to Distribute, and Distribution of Oxycodone.

The indictment alleges that between November 2003 and June 2004, ALVITI and GOULD conspired to distribute OxyContin in the North Shore area of Massachusetts. Additionally, ALVITI is charged with distributing OxyContin on four occasions to an undercover federal agent. GOULD was arrested on June 30, 2004, when he arrived at ALVITI’s Beverly residence to deliver 500 OxyContin tablets to ALVITI. ALVITI had been arrested the day before. The indictment further alleges that GOULD is responsible for the possession or distribution of approximately 30,000 illegal OxyContin tablets. If convicted on these charges, ALVITI and GOULD each face up to 20 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.

The case was investigated by the DEA Tactical Diversion Squad, the DEA Mobile Enforcement Team, the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the Massachusetts State Police, the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, the Cape Ann Drug Task Force, and the Peabody Police Department’s Drug Unit.