Charlestown Man Sentenced To 3 Years For Distributing Fentanyl

BOSTON – A Charlestown man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for distributing fentanyl out of a Chelsea apartment, after police caught him selling the synthetic opioid in a parking lot in Dorchester.

U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Cruz Villar, 32, to three years in prison and five years of supervised release. In June 2019, Villar pleaded guilty to one count of distribution and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.

Law enforcement saw Villar on June 22, 2018, selling fentanyl to a person in a parking lot in Dorchester. After the sale, agents seized approximately 11 grams of fentanyl from the customer and approximately $1,446 in cash from Villar.

They then searched an apartment in Chelsea that Villar had been renting—but in which he had not been living— and found some 87.4 additional grams of fentanyl, along with components of a drug press, a digital scale, two blenders, bottles of a cutting agent, and packaging materials, including plastic wrap and plastic baggies.

Villar made regular trips from the Chelsea apartment to an address in Mashpee in a manner consistent with the distribution of narcotics, according to court records.

Although pharmaceutical fentanyl is approved for treating severe pain associated with cancer, according to the CDC, most recent cases of fentanyl-related overdose and death are linked to illegally made fentanyl.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office, made the announcement Thursday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian A. Pérez‑Daple of Lelling’s Criminal Division prosecuted the case.