North Andover Man Sentenced for Multistate Fentanyl and Cocaine Conspiracy

BOSTON – A former North Andover man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his participation in a large-scale drug trafficking conspiracy involving fentanyl, cocaine and other controlled substances that spanned across Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine and Puerto Rico.

Elvis DeJesus, 34, formerly of North Andover, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Angel Kelley to 15 years in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. In June 2024, DeJesus pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, 500 grams or more of cocaine and other controlled substances. In December 2021, DeJesus was charged along with 20 other individuals.

In May 2020, an investigation began into a network of Lawrence-based drug traffickers. From December 2020 through December 2021, intercepted communications between targets of the investigation and their associates revealed that the defendants distributed fentanyl and cocaine in and around the Lawrence area. Some of the cocaine was obtained from suppliers in Puerto Rico and shipped to Massachusetts in the U.S. mail.

Together with other co-defendants, DeJesus operated a wholesale fentanyl and cocaine distribution businesses until approximately August 2021, when he was arrested on state firearms charges. In February 2021, $75,930 was seized from co-defendant Luis Martinez after Martinez had collected drug proceeds from DeJesus outside of DeJesus’s residence. In April 2021, a package sent from Puerto Rico to DeJesus’s residence that contained 978 grams of cocaine was also seized. In March 2021, 200 grams of cocaine supplied by DeJesus from co-defendant Othoniel Lara Gonzalez was also seized.  

After DeJesus’s arrest on the state firearms charges, he was detained in state custody. DeJesus continued to operate his drug distribution business from jail. In November 2021, over 500 grams of fentanyl and over 100 grams of cocaine that co-defendant William Rivadeneira was transporting on DeJesus’s behalf was seized. Prior to the seizure, DeJesus was intercepted chastising Rivadeneira for not having taken adequate precautions while preparing the fentanyl for distribution, telling him, “[Y]ou can get an overdose.”

In November 2021, DeJesus and his co-conspirators paid co-defendant Gregorit Sanchez, a former Corrections Officer at Middleton House of Corrections where DeJesus was then detained, to smuggle a package containing fentanyl, cocaine, Suboxone and other contraband into the jail. The package was seized from Sanchez when he attempted to enter the jail.

In February 2025, Luis Martinez was sentenced to five years in prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release. In January 2023, Othoniel Lara Gonzalez was sentenced to three years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. William Rivadeneira pleaded guilty in March 2024 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 22, 2025. In June 2024, Gregorit Sanchez was sentenced to five years’ probation with the first year to be served on home detention.

This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. More information on the OCDETF program is available here: https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Office made the announcement. Special assistance was provided by the Lawrence Police Department; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Massachusetts State Police; Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Essex County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katherine Ferguson and J. Mackenzie Duane prosecuted the case.