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A Boston man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his role in a heroin and fentanyl trafficking organization that operated in Taunton and Boston.
Jancer Soto, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to five years of probation. In October 2017, Soto pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl. In February 2017, Soto was arrested and charged along with approximately 20 co-defendants.
From mid-2016 through February 2017, federal law enforcement investigated two drug trafficking organizations operating in Taunton and Boston led by Fernando Hernandez and Jose Antonio Lugo-Guerrero. Lugo-Guerrero allegedly operated a drug trafficking organization in Fall River and Boston and was assisted by Soto and approximately seven others. It is alleged that Lugo Guerrero supplied Hernandez with drugs and that Lugo-Guerrero and his associates obtained a significant quantity of illegal drugs by robbing other drug traffickers.
Hernandez pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Feb. 26, 2018, to 188 months in prison. Lugo-Guerrero pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial on Sept. 10, 2018.
The conspiracy charge provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a minimum of three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Michael Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Field Division; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Fall River Police Chief Albert F. Dupere; New Bedford Police Chief Joseph C. Cordeiro; Taunton Police Chief Edward James Walsh; Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans; Bridgewater Police Chief Christopher Delmonte; and Bristol Country District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore B. Heinrich of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
