Mattapan Man Pleads Guilty to Heroin Distribution and Firearms Offenses

BOSTON – A Mattapan man pleaded guilty today to drug distribution and firearms violations.

Manuel Pereyra, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of heroin, one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime, and one count of receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment.  U.S. District Judge Rya W. Zobel scheduled sentencing for Jan. 6, 2016.

In March 2015, a cooperating witness told federal agents that Pereyra was a heroin dealer, and that Pereyra had previously traded heroin to obtain a firearm.  As a result, on April 2, 2015, at the direction of law enforcement officers, the cooperating witness purchased heroin from Pereyra at the Old Colony Public Housing Development in South Boston.  During that meeting, Pereyra asked the cooperating witness to obtain a firearm for him.  On April 14, 2015, the cooperating witness and an undercover federal agent met with Pereyra in a hotel room in Dorchester.  There, Pereyra gave the undercover federal agent 11 grams of heroin in exchange for a .380 caliber semi-automatic pistol.  Pereyra was immediately arrested.

At the time of the incident, Pereyra was also under felony indictment in connection with unrelated state drug offenses in Salem, N.H., which prohibited him from possessing a firearm.

The charge of distribution of heroin provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $1 million.  The charge of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years (consecutive to any other sentence) and up to a lifetime in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  The charge of receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment provides for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Daniel J. Kumor, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordi de Llano of Ortiz’s Major Crimes Unit.