Two Massachusetts Residents Sentenced for Participating in Fentanyl Trafficking Conspiracy

            CONCORD – Wagner Pimentel, 30, of Methuen, Massachusetts, and Luz Perez DeMartinez, 27, of Lawrence Massachusetts were sentenced in federal court on Tuesday for participating in a large-scale fentanyl trafficking conspiracy, United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced today. Pimentel was sentenced to 108 months.   DeMartinez was sentenced to 132 months and a $50,000 fine.

            According to court documents and statements made in court, a drug trafficking organization, led by Sergio Martinez, sold fentanyl to customers from various New England states, including New Hampshire. On each date that Pimentel worked for the Martinez organization, he delivered 200-gram bags of fentanyl to runners who worked for the organization and collected drug proceeds from the runners once they distributed the contents of the bags.

            DeMartinez, the wife of the organization’s leader, facilitated various financial aspects of the drug business. Her primary role was to collect, count and process hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits generated by drug sales.  She also paid salaries to some of the organization’s employees and collected money to post bail for certain employees who were arrested. She wired drug proceeds out of the country.  

            Pimentel previously pleaded guilty on March 15, 2019 and DeMartinez previously pleaded guilty on February 12, 2019. After serving his sentence, Pimental faces possible removal to the Dominican Republic.           

            “The Martinez drug trafficking organization facilitated the sale of large quantities of lethal fentanyl to residents of New Hampshire,” said U.S. Attorney Murray. “This was a large-scale criminal enterprise that reaped hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits and caused untold misery to its customers and their families. These sentences should serve as warning that long federal prison terms await those who choose to distribute fentanyl in New Hampshire.”        

            “DEA is committed to investigating Drug Trafficking Organizations and individuals like Mr. Pimentel and Ms. DeMartinez who are responsible for distributing lethal drugs like fentanyl to the citizens of New Hampshire,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle.  “Today’s substantial sentence not only holds both accountable for their crimes but serves as a warning to those traffickers who are fueling the opioid epidemic with deadly drugs in order to profit and destroy people’s lives.  DEA’s top priority is combatting the opioid epidemic by working with our local, state and federal partners to bring to justice anyone who distributes this poison.”

            The case was a collaborative investigation that involved the DEA; the New Hampshire State Police; the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office; the Nashua Police Department; the Massachusetts State Police; the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office; the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office; the Essex County District Attorney’s Office; the Internal Revenue Service; Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; United States Customs and Border Protection Boston Field Office; the United States Marshals Service; the United States Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; the Manchester Police Department; the Lisbon Police Department; the Littleton Police Department; the Haverhill (MA) Police Department; the Methuen (MA) Police Department; the Lowell (MA) Police Department; and the Maine State Police.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Georgiana L. Konesky and Seth R. Aframe.

            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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