New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
Members of the New Bedford Police Department narcotics unit arrested a 45-year-old New Bedford man with a long criminal history Saturday after more than a kilo of cocaine valued at $100,000 was found in a package he received in the mail.
Ivan Fontanez, 45, of 242 Austin St., was charged with trafficking in cocaine over 1,000 grams, distribution of class B substance (cocaine), subsequent offense, and carrying weapons or instruments on a person.
The arrest was the result of an ongoing investigation into shipment of narcotics from Puerto Rico through the U.S. mail.
Police observed that, after a package was delivered in the mail to a Weld Street address. Mr. Fontanez was arrested after leaving the address. He also carried an illegal knife in his pocket.
The package contained cocaine weighing 1,036 grams. He also had small amount of cash in his possession.
He has previously been convicted of distribution/dispensing class A substance (heroin) in 1994 and sentenced to serve two years in prison. He was also sentenced to serve 24 months in federal prison in 1999 for possession of a firearm. In 2011, he was sentenced in Superior Court to serve four years and one day for possession of a firearm. He has 78 arraignments as an adult on charge including numerous distributions of illegal narcotics, several possessions of a firearm without a permit, and discharging of a firearm.
He was injured Dec. 28, 2016 in a shooting on Nye Street. He is being held at Ash Street jail pending his arraignment Tuesday at Third District Court. He was arrested at Saturday at 1:16 p.m.
