Haverhill Woman Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Participating in Heroin Trafficking Conspiracy

             CONCORD, N.H. – Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced that Judith Ardolino, 54, of Haverhill, Massachusetts, was sentenced on Tuesday to serve 60 months in federal prison for participating in a heroin trafficking conspiracy.

            According to court records and statements in court, Ardolino was one of several individuals who obtained quantities of heroin from a drug trafficking organization operated by Alberto Guerrero Marte.  Ardolino and others operated “trap houses.”  Trap houses are residences where customers of the drug trafficking organization could meet individuals who were delivering heroin to the customers.  Drugs picked up at the trap houses were then sold to customers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

            Ardolino was one of nine individuals indicted in October of 2016 for their roles in this heroin distribution conspiracy.  All of the defendants, with the exception of one who passed away, have pleaded guilty.  One defendant, Eric Sederquest, 36, was sentenced to serve 92 months in prison.  The remaining defendants are awaiting sentencing.

            Ardolino previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and possess with intent to distribute, heroin.  Guerrero Marte, who was charged in a separate indictment and pleaded guilty, is serving a 15-year federal prison sentence.     

“Stopping the distribution of heroin and other deadly drugs is a high priority of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Farley.  “Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement colleagues, a substantial drug trafficking operation has been dismantled.”

            This matter was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration; Homeland Security Investigations; the Massachusetts State Police; the Haverhill Police Department; the United States Marshals Service; the New Hampshire State Police; the Manchester Police Department; the Lawrence Police Department; the Lowell Police Department, the Methuen Police Department, and the Hillsborough County Drug Task Force.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Feith.

            This case was supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).  The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.  

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