Third New Bedford, Massachusetts Man Charged for February 2024 Saco Shooting Pleads Guilty

PORTLAND, Maine: A third New Bedford, Massachusetts man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Portland to using a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. 

Jason Johnson-Rivera (a/k/a “Ouda”), 20, pleaded guilty to one count of the superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury on March 19, 2025. Johnson-Rivera’s codefendants, Joshua Estrada (aka “Mac”), 20, and Yancarlos Abrante (aka “Glizzy”), 22, pleaded guilty on September 25, 2025.

According to court records, on February 9, 2024, Johnson-Rivera, Estrada and Abrante fired at least five rounds from a 9mm handgun into another vehicle in a drug trade dispute. Shortly after they fired on their drug rivals and fled the scene, they drove their vehicle against traffic and through a red light, crashing into another passenger vehicle and a school bus. Video footage captured by another driver who witnessed the accident showed them exiting their vehicle and fleeing the scene on foot. Court records reflect that Estrada, Abrante and others had been trafficking cocaine in and around Saco and Biddeford since at least January 2024.

Johnson-Riverafaces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to five years of supervised release. He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigative report by the U.S. Probation Office. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Saco Police Department, FBI’s Southern Maine Gang Task Force, U.S. Border Patrol, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case with assistance from the New Bedford (Mass.) Police Department. 

Project Safe Neighborhoods: This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psn.