Two suspects convicted of fentanyl trafficking conspiracy

The Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, as seen on September 2, 2020. (Nicolaus Czarnecki/Boston Herald)

BOSTON – The remaining two Lawrence suspects involved in a conspiracy to traffic fentanyl within several area communities, including Wilmington, were convicted in federal court last week, bringing the case to a close.

A judge sentenced 28-year-old Manuel Fredis Gerrero Guzman, described by his lawyer as a once promising baseball player, to 21 months in prison on Thursday. The next day, Fraily Rodriguez Morillo, 27, was given 46 months behind bars. Following their prison sentences, both men will be on supervised release for two years.

These two, along with fellow Lawrence resident Melvin Antonio Perez Medina, 33, had previously admitted in federal court to distributing fentanyl to an individual who turned out to be a cooperating witness, according to the office of Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy .

Perez Medina was sentenced by a federal judge earlier in January to 64 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

A sentencing memorandum filed by Guerrero Guzman’s attorney, Jessica Hedges, asked the judge to sentence her client to a total of 18 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy. In the memorandum, Hedges referred to a tragedy that derailed Guerrero Guzman’s life and led him to crime.

The attorney said Guerrero Guzman was once a “young person of great promise” who dreamed of coming to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic to play professional baseball.

“Just as that dream was beginning to bear fruit — with a visa and a contract with the Houston Astros in hand, his sister was found murdered and chained to two cinder blocks at the bottom of a lake,” Hedges said in the memorandum. “From this point on, everything in his young life spiraled out of control, leading to deep depression, the loss of his baseball contract, a serious opiate addiction, homelessness and his eventual choice to sell drugs to support his addiction.”

Guerrero Guzman was in a downward spiral, according to Hedges, and sought help for his problems in May 2022, after which he detoxed from opioids. He was charged in the federal case in November, although the conduct that led to those charges occurred in April 2022, Hedges said.

She pointed out that other than this case, Guerrero Guzman has no criminal history.

“Although he remains devastated by the loss of his sister, and saddened by his certain deportation, he has now found a vision through which he can honor his sister’s memory and help his community at the same time – by opening a baseball school in her honor to be established in the Dominican Republic. ” said Heggen.

Rodriguez Morillo, also from the Dominican Republic, also has no prior criminal involvement, according to the sentencing memorandum filed by his attorney, Leslie Feldman-Rumpler. Feldman-Rumpler asked for a prison sentence of 46 to 57 months for Rodriguez Morillo, while adding that her client “played a minor role in the crime.”

In the memorandum, Feldman-Rumpler said Rodriguez Morillo “grew up in a loving and law-abiding family, albeit in a rough neighborhood in Santo Domingo.”

“Although he describes his upbringing as ‘middle class,’ he became the victim of a police shooting, which he reported, resulting in the officer’s suspension,” Feldman-Rumler said. “He fled the Dominican Republic after hearing from third parties that the officer wanted to kill him.”

Rodriguez Morillo moved to Lawrence, where he met the cooperating witness as well as Guerrero Guzman, who Feldman-Rumpler said “turned out to be a drug supplier.”

“Mr. Rodriguez Morillo had not been involved in drugs; he had no independent source of supply,” Feldman Rumpler said in the memorandum. “He delivered drugs on behalf of the two co-defendants in this case in exchange for money, and also communicated to some extent with the (cooperating witness) to arrange meeting times and locations.”

She added that her client did not dictate the price or quantity of the drugs he supplied, had no idea where his co-defendants were getting the narcotics and made no profit on the transactions.

According to Levy’s office, the conspiracy included plans to distribute fentanyl in their hometown of Lawrence, Andover and Woburn in addition to Wilmington.

An affidavit filed in federal court states that the cooperating witness met with Guerrero Guzman and Rodriguez Morillo in March 2022 to arrange the purchase of fentanyl. A month later, the cooperating witness purchased approximately 50 grams of a substance that later tested positive for “a mixture and a substance containing fentanyl” from Rodriguez Morillo for $2,000. The controlled purchase, conducted in Lawrence, was audio and video recorded by authorities.

In July 2022, the affidavit states that the cooperating witness arranged another purchase of fentanyl with Perez Medina in Woburn. The deal allegedly included the purchase of 200 grams of fentanyl for $7,200, but the cooperating witness received from Rodriguez Morillo 130 grams of a mixture and substance containing fentanyl.

A third purchase of 500 grams of fentanyl, plus the amount missing from the previous purchase, was later arranged in July 2022 for $8,800. The purchase was made between the cooperating witness, Perez Medina and Rodriguez Morillo.

The approximately 560 grams of suspected fentanyl was sent to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Northeast Laboratory for forensic testing. The affidavit states that the substance tested positive for fentanyl and a fentanyl analog.

Perez Medina was arrested in August 2022. Prosecutors said at the time that he was in possession of nearly 2 kilograms of a mixture containing fentanyl and a fentanyl analogue, which was hidden in a cereal box.

The trio was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2022.

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