New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
A 21-year old Lowell man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for trafficking more than a kilo of heroin and fentanyl. Fentanyl is responsible for 93% of all overdose deaths in Massachusetts.
Anderson Daniel Jorge Cruz, 21, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to 70 months in prison and three years of supervised release. In October 2019, Cruz pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin and fentanyl and other drug trafficking offenses. Cruz has been in custody since his arrest on Jan. 23, 2019, along with co-defendant Joshua Ramos-Rios.
On Jan. 23, 2019, federal, state, and local law enforcement officers seized over one kilogram of heroin mixed with fentanyl hidden inside Cruz’s bedroom ceiling. The seizure was the result of an undercover operation into Cruz and Ramos-Rios. At the time of his arrest, Cruz had an outstanding warrant for homicide in Allentown, Penn., which remains pending. Cruz is also currently charged with murder in Essex County Superior Court.
United States Attorney Andrew Lelling; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England Division; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Lowell Police Superintendent Raymond Kelly Richardson made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip C. Cheng of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.
