Holbrook Man Sentenced for Cocaine Trafficking; Boston Man Pleads Guilty to Cocaine Distribution

BOSTON – A Holbrook man was sentenced and a Boston man pleaded responsible yesterday in reference to their respective roles in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

Andre Echevarria, 41, of Holbrook, was sentenced by U.S. District Courtroom Decide Richard G. Stearns to 41 months in jail and three years of supervised launch. In September 2021, Echevarria pleaded responsible to conspiracy to distribute and to own with intent to distribute cocaine.

Tarik Muhammad, 27, of Boston, pleaded responsible to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine. Decide Stearns scheduled sentencing for June 21, 2022.

The defendants have been charged in June 2020 together with 23 others as a part of “Operation Snowfall” – a multi-year investigation into drug trafficking actions by a drug trafficking group (DTO) comprised of Boston-based road gang members and associates.  In keeping with the charging paperwork, starting in November 2018, legislation enforcement investigated drug trafficking actions by Boston-based road gang members and associates within the Commonwealth Growth in Brighton, previously often called Fidelis Means, a multi-apartment public housing improvement. It’s alleged that the defendants, by means of their drug trafficking actions, assumed management over a number of flats, the place they saved, cooked, packaged and bought medicine. Because of this, their actions triggered a blight of the event and decreased the standard of lifetime of the opposite residents.

The investigation additionally focused large-scale drug suppliers and their associates. It’s alleged that the targets continued to distribute cocaine and cocaine base all through the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown.

The investigation recognized Echevarria as a drug trafficker who bought cocaine from co-defendants and wholesale drug suppliers Winston McGhee and, allegedly, Derek Hart. In keeping with the charging paperwork, McGhee and Hart have been the 2 highest-level drug suppliers inside the DTO. Over the course of the investigation, investigators recognized Echevarria coordinating drug offers on intercepted calls with others, together with McGhee and allegedly Hart, and likewise surveilled him taking part in drug trafficking exercise. On a name in April 2020, Echevarria acquired a “cooking class” from McGhee by which McGhee instructed him on easy methods to convert cocaine into crack with the powder he had beforehand bought to him. When these efforts failed, Echevarria returned cocaine to McGhee in change for a substitute batch.   

Throughout a search of Echevarria’s car on the time of his arrest, legislation enforcement recovered a Smith & Wesson .380 caliber pistol with an obliterated serial quantity. A search of his residence resulted within the seizure of a Smith & Wesson journal and 10 rounds of ammunition.

The investigation additionally recognized Muhammad as a drug distributor. Legislation enforcement intercepted calls between Muhammad and Kenji Drayton, one of many important suppliers and distributors inside the DTO, by which they coordinated a meetup. Legislation enforcement subsequently surveilled Drayton’s assembly with Muhammad at an agreed-upon location mentioned within the calls.  Quickly thereafter, Drayton entered a location identified to have been utilized by Drayton throughout the investigation for drug trafficking functions. After rising minutes later, Drayton joined Muhammad in a car and drove away. Legislation enforcement stopped the automotive quickly after and ordered the occupants Muhammad out of the automotive. Whereas looking out Muhammad for attainable weapons or medicine, legislation enforcement felt an object on the crease of Muhammad’s buttocks. Legislation enforcement restrained Muhammad, positioned him behind an empty, clear police wagon, and transported him to the police station.

Through the transport, legislation enforcement noticed Muhammad throw himself to the bottom and thrash about. Officers radioed these observations onto the station. When the wagon arrived on the station, Muhammad was noticed to be coated with white powder. The again of the wagon additionally was dusted with white powder. Officers subsequently recovered a ripped plastic bag containing a white residue from the outer space of Muhammad’s buttocks.

Of the defendants cost on this case, Muhammad is the 12^th defendant to plead responsible and Echevarria is the seventh defendant to be sentenced. 4 defendants have pleaded responsible and are awaiting sentencing. 4 defendants have pleaded not responsible and are awaiting trial. One defendant, Derek Hart, stays at giant.

The cost of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine offers for a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail, not less than three years and as much as lifetime of supervised launch, and a wonderful of as much as $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district courtroom choose based mostly upon the U.S. Sentencing Tips and statutes which govern the willpower of a sentence in a legal case.

This effort is a part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Activity Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level legal organizations that threaten the USA utilizing a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency method. Extra details about the OCDETF Program might be discovered at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

First Assistant United States Lawyer Joshua S. Levy; Brian D. Boyle, Particular Agent in Cost of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Boston Discipline Division; Douglas Bartlett, Performing U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Boston Police Performing Commissioner Gregory Lengthy made the announcement. Help within the investigation was offered by the Braintree, Cambridge, Canton, Randolph and Weymouth Police Departments; the Suffolk, Norfolk and Bristol County District Attorneys’ Places of work; and the Suffolk, Plymouth and Norfolk County Sheriffs’ Places of work. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaitlin R. O’Donnell and Timothy E. Moran of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit prosecuted the case.

The main points contained within the charging paperwork are allegations. The remaining defendants are presumed harmless except and till confirmed responsible past an affordable doubt in a courtroom of legislation.