BOSTON — A Lynn drug dealer was sentenced to 12½ years in prison on Tuesday for selling the heroin mixed with fentanyl to a 34-year-old Melrose woman that led to her fatal overdose in 2017.
Yeffry Reynoso, also known as Chris, 27, pleaded guilty in January 2019 to conspiring to distribute at least 100 grams of heroin and at least 40 grams of fentanyl in 2016 and 2017, and to six counts of distributing heroin or fentanyl on various dates in 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
The sentencing, which includes an additional four years of supervised release, is based on a plea agreement reached in January, where prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of at least nine years in prison, but no more than 14 years.
U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton’s imposed sentence was shorter than the 14 years prosecutors were recommending, according to the United States’ Sentence Memorandum filed by prosecutors on Monday.
In the memorandum, prosecutors described Reynoso as showing “callous disregard” for the victim, referred to as K.H., agreeing to sell her heroin mixed with fentanyl a day after she was released from a rehab facility, despite explicit warnings from the victim’s friend not to sell her any drugs because her tolerance would be significantly reduced and even a tiny quantity could kill her.
Prosecutors said Reynoso also showed “no remorse” for selling the drugs that killed the woman, who had battled a heroin addiction since she was 18. Reynoso had become her heroin dealer in October 2016 and sold to her almost daily until her involuntary hospitalization two months later, according to the memorandum.
A day after she was released from the hospital, Reynoso agreed to sell to and directed K.H. on how to administer the drugs slowly (“try lil by lil,” he said by text). K.H. overdosed a short time later and was found unresponsive by her then-16-year-old daughter. The next day, the woman died at the hospital. After learning she had overdosed, Reynoso changed his phone number to evade law enforcement and continued to sell fentanyl to his customers, according to the memorandum.
In the memorandum, prosecutors had also recommended that the court order Reynoso to pay $4,765 to the woman’s family for the funeral expenses they incurred and $700 in special assessments.
In addition to admitting to selling the drugs that led to the victim’s fatal overdose, Reynoso also admitted that he sold and directed others to sell on his behalf small retail quantities (typically approximately .25 to .30 grams in a plastic baggie) of heroin, heroin mixed with fentanyl and fentanyl to people in Lynn, Melrose, Saugus, Peabody, Malden and surrounding communities on an almost daily basis, prosecutors said.
But in the sentencing memorandum filed by Reynoso’s defense team with attached letters of support from his family members, Reynoso was described as a father of two young children with no prior criminal record.
The Lynn English High School graduate spent much of his life trying to improve his and his family’s life, according to the filing, and was able to achieve success despite difficult circumstances during his childhood, including a violent, alcoholic father who was incarcerated when he was 12 years old.
Reynoso worked for five years as a Spanish medical interpreter and for four years as a dental assistant, according to the memorandum.
