Dominican National Sentenced for Fentanyl Trafficking

BOSTON – A Dominican national was sentenced on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 in federal court in Boston for fentanyl trafficking.

Cristian Lara Diaz, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 63 months in prison and four years of supervised release. In September 2020, Lara Diaz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and five counts of distribution of and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.  

Lara Diaz and his co-defendant, Andres Arias, conspired to distribute fentanyl and engaged in five separate sales of fentanyl to a cooperating witness in Boston between April 2017 and January 2018.

Arias is scheduled to plead guilty on Jan. 21, 2021.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Boston Police Commissioner William Gross made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Hassink of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.