New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
A New Bedford man was sentenced Friday, May 11 in federal court in Boston for his role in a heroin and fentanyl trafficking organization that operated in Taunton and Boston.
David Tejeda, 35, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to six years in prison and three years of supervised release. In October 2017, Tejeda pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl. In February 2017, Tejeda and 22 co-defendants were arrested in connection with the conspiracy.
From mid-2016 through February 2017, federal law enforcement investigated a heroin and fentanyl trafficking organization led by Jose Antonio Lugo-Guerrero. Lugo-Guerrero allegedly operated his organization in Fall River and Boston and sold to numerous customers, including Tejeda. On Feb. 14, 2017, agents arrested Tejeda and seized from his New Bedford residence 119 grams of a mixture containing fentanyl and heroin and 117 grams of a mixture containing fentanyl and cocaine.
Lugo-Guerrero has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Albert Angelucci, Acting 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 Daniel S. Racine; New Bedford Police Chief Joseph C. Cordeiro; Taunton Police Chief Edward James Walsh; Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans; and Bristol Country District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Heinrich of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.
The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
