Dominican National Pleads Guilty to Heroin, Cocaine Charges

BOSTON – A Dominican national pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Boston to his role in a heroin distribution conspiracy operating in and around Waltham.

Richard R. Fernandez, 23, a Dominican national residing in Lawrence, pleaded guilty to eight counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute heroin and cocaine. U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Jan. 2, 2018. In March 2017, Fernandez was arrested along with three others, Jose C. Torres, Angel G. Rivera Serrano, and Luis Humberto Arias Lara.

Fernandez and the three other defendants distributed heroin in and around Waltham over the course of several months. Each of the defendants allegedly sold drugs to an undercover investigator. On March 30, 2016, law enforcement executed federal search warrants at two residences and two alleged stash houses where they seized approximately $200,000 in cash and approximately 1.5 kilograms of narcotics.

In August 2017, Arias Lara was sentenced to five months in prison. In September 2017, Rivera Serrano was sentenced to 10 months in prison. Torres pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 27, 2017.

The charges each provide for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a minimum of three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael J. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; and John Gibbons, U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, made the announcement today. Assistance was provided by members of the Suburban Middlesex County Drug Task Force, which is composed of the Waltham, Watertown, Newton, Arlington, Belmont, Weston and Lexington Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Miranda Hooker of Weinreb’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.