Leominster Man Sentenced for Dealing Heroin and Cocaine

BOSTON – A Leominster man was sentenced today in federal court in Worcester for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

Felix Melendez, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to 70 months in prison and four years of supervised release.  In May 2017, Melendez and four co-defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine in Worcester County.

In the late summer of 2014, federal agents began investigating the narcotics trafficking activities of Osvaldo Vasquez and his associates, Melendez, Jose Federico Vasquez, Elvis Genao, and Hugo Santana-Dones. Between November 2014 and July 2015, with the help of a cooperating witness, agents made numerous recorded purchases of heroin - sometimes laced with fentanyl - from members of the conspiracy, seizing over 400 grams of heroin as a result.   Search warrants executed at the various defendants’ residences led to the seizure of over a kilogram of heroin and cocaine along with a loaded firearm. 

During the controlled purchases, Melendez was recorded distributing well over 100 grams of heroin to a government cooperator in July 2015. Intercepted wiretaps between April and July 2015 also captured Melendez discussing the delivery and sale of over two kilograms of narcotics.

Santana-Dones was sentenced on Sept. 6, 2017, to 80 months in prison and will be subject to deportation hearings upon completion of his sentence; Federico Vasquez was sentenced on Sept. 18, 2017, to five years in prison and will be subject to deportation hearings upon completion of his sentence; Genao was sentenced on Sept. 19, 2017, to 37 months in prison; and Osvaldo Vasquez is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 3, 2017.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael J. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Worcester Police Chief Steven M. Sargent; Fitchburg Police Chief Ernest F. Martineau; and Leominster Interim Police Chief Michael Goldman made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Grady of Weinreb’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the cases.