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A Rhode Island man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Boston for his role in trafficking fentanyl throughout southeastern Massachusetts and his home state.
Mario Rafael Dominguez-Ortiz, 27, of Cranston, Rhode Island, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs to one year and a day in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, Acting U.S. Attorney Josh Levy said in a statement.
In May, Dominguez-Ortiz pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2022 along with nine other individuals.
In March 2021, an investigation began into a drug trafficking ring operating in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island led by Estarlin Ortiz-Alcantara, Levy said.
The investigation identified Dominguez-Ortiz as a member of a drug trafficking organization, and he was employed by Ortiz-Alcantara to deliver fentanyl.
Four times between July and November 2021, Dominguez-Ortiz delivered fentanyl to a cooperating source, Levy said. The total amount of fentanyl that he distributed over the fourth-month period was approximately 500 grams.
Estarlin Ortiz-Alcantara pleaded guilty in December 2023 and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 5.
Assisting federal authorities in the investigation were Massachusetts State Police, the Bristol County Sherriff’s Office, and police departments in New Bedford, Fairhaven, Fall River, Taunton, Attleboro, Scituate, Yarmouth, and Providence and West Warwick, Rhode Island.
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WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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