BOSTON — A 25-year-old Peabody man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to participating in a drug-distribution conspiracy, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Francisco Tavarez, aka “Jose,” was charged in November 2017, along with co-defendant Yeffry Reynoso, with one count of distribution of fentanyl and one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 40 grams or more of fentanyl.
Tavarez and Reynoso’s activities were brought to the attention of investigators in January 2017, when an opioid death in Melrose led officers to the pursuit of drug activity on the North Shore. It was then found that Reynoso, a heroin and fentanyl supplier who recruited others to run drugs on his behalf, was the source of the drugs that caused the opioid overdose in Melrose, prosecutors said.
Further investigation involved a cooperating witness making controlled purchases of heroin and a heroin/fentanyl mixture from Reynoso’s operation. In March 2017, Tavarez made it onto investigators’ radars when he was identified as one of Reynoso’s recruits. Tavarez was discovered when he ferried fentanyl to an undercover agent as part of Reynoso’s operation. Local law enforcement apprehended Tavarez after a drug deal in Salem, where they stopped him and seized his supply of fentanyl and a cocaine/fentanyl mixture, prosecutors said.
Reynoso pleaded guilty in January 2019 and was sentenced to 150 months in prison, and four years of supervised release the following June. Reynoso was also ordered to pay $4,765 as restitution in addition to a $700 special assessment.
The charge of distribution of fentanyl provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, at least three years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million. The charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and 40 grams or more of fentanyl provides for a sentence of up to 40 years in prison, at least three years of supervised release and a fine of $5 million.
U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled Tavarez’s sentencing for Aug. 9, and Assistant U.S. Attorney James E. Arnold of U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins’ Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.
