A Rhode Island man, Jasdrual Perez, also known as Josh Perez, has been sentenced to 22.5 years in federal prison for his involvement in a large-scale fentanyl trafficking operation. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin delivered the sentence in Boston, ordering Perez to pay a $1 million fine and serve five years of supervised release following his imprisonment. Additionally, Perez will forfeit his residence used for distributing fentanyl.
United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy commented on the severity of the case: "Fentanyl kills over 2,000 people a year in Massachusetts. That is unacceptable." He described Perez as someone who ran an operation that distributed over 200 kilograms of fentanyl across several states, including Massachusetts and New York.
Stephen Belleau, Acting DEA Special Agent in Charge of the New England Field Division, emphasized the importance of removing fentanyl from the streets: "Fentanyl is causing deaths in record numbers and DEA’s top priority is to aggressively pursue anyone who distributes this poison."
Jonathan Wlodyka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation's Boston Field Office, noted the dangers posed by disguising fentanyl as prescription drugs: "Perez led a syndicate whose sole intent was flooding our streets with large quantities of deadly drugs."
Perez's organization was based in Providence, R.I., and was responsible for pressing fentanyl into pills resembling Oxycodone or Percocet before selling them across state lines. Authorities seized industrial-sized pill presses and significant quantities of fentanyl during a search on February 7, 2022.
Following these searches, Perez fled to New York but continued orchestrating drug deals until his arrest on February 11, 2022. Co-defendant Erik Ventura received a ten-year prison sentence last week for his role in the conspiracy.
The announcement came from U.S. Attorney Levy alongside other law enforcement officials involved in the investigation. The case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative aimed at dismantling major drug trafficking organizations.