Braintree Man Sentenced For Selling Fentanyl, Carfentanil

BRAINTREE, MA — A Braintree man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court after prosecutors proved he was selling fentanyl and carfentanil throughout greater Boston and the South Shore.

David Fernandes, 33, was convicted of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and carfentanil and was sentenced to 30 months in prison, three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.

From May 2019 through August 2019, Fernandes and co-defendants Rickey Depina, 32, of Brockton, Keanu Fernandes, 33, and Viviana Fontes, 30, all of Brockton, sold fentanyl and carfentanil in Brockton, Abington, Boston, Braintree, Easton, Fall River, Holbrook, Norton, Quincy, Raynham, South Easton, West Bridgewater and Whitman, federal prosecutors said.

According to the DEA, carfentanil is an analog of fentanyl and approximately 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl. It is used commercially in tranquilizer darts for large mammals such as elk or elephants and can be lethal in a dose as small as 2 milligrams.

Prosecutors said undercover police purchased the drugs on several occasions. On Oct. 1, 2018, police stopped a car and found Fernandes, Depina and Fontes with more thab 17 grams of fentanyl, $1,750 in cash and four cell phones. In search warrants executed later that day, police said they recovered another $10,000.

Depina, Fernandes and Fontes previously pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge. On Sept. 20, 2020, Depina was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release. On Jan. 12, 2021, Keanue Fernandes was sentenced to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release. Fontes has yet to be sentenced.