East Wareham Man Pleads Guilty to His Role in Drug and Money Laundering Ring

BOSTON – An East Wareham man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to drug charges.

Evan Lopes, 28, pleaded guilty today to possession of Methylone with intent to distribute and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 24, 2017. Lopes is the last of four Cape Cod co-defendants to plead guilty to drug and money laundering charges.

On Jan. 15, 2015, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Lopes’ where they recovered two kilograms of Methylone from a woodpile on the property. Lopes stashed the drugs for co-defendant David Landry, who, from 2010 to 2014, led a drug and money laundering ring on Cape Cod. Landry, was arrested by state authorities in September 2014, but continued to communicate with and direct his drug associates from prison. Landry had asked Lopes to store the Methylone at his house in preparation for transferring it to other associates who would sell it for $40,000. 

From May 2014 to January 2015, Landry and another co-defendant, Justin Groom, conspired to manufacture and distribute marijuana. Landry, along with his mother, Diane Johnson, and Groom conspired to launder the drug proceeds in order to disguise the nature of the funds and continue their drug trafficking activities. Landry, a convicted felon, was also found in possession of a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol at the time of his arrest.  

David Landry and Justin Groom were sentenced in March 2017 to 78 months in prison and two years of probation, respectively. Diane Johnson pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy on May 17, 2017, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 23, 2017.

The charge of possession of Methylone with intent to distribute provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Mickey D. Leadingham, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Boston Field Division; Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; Barnstable Police Chief Paul MacDonald; Barnstable County Sheriff James M. Cummings; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Cape & Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Heinrich of Weinreb’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.