A Rhode Island man has been sentenced in federal court in Boston for his role in a drug trafficking organization that distributed fentanyl across Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Mario Rafael Dominguez-Ortiz, aged 27 from Cranston, was given a prison sentence of one year and a day by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs. This will be followed by three years of supervised release.
Dominguez-Ortiz had pleaded guilty in May 2024 to conspiracy charges related to the distribution and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl. He was indicted alongside nine others by a federal grand jury in August 2022.
The investigation into the drug trafficking organization began in March 2021 and was led by Estarlin Ortiz-Alcantara. Dominguez-Ortiz was identified as a member of this organization, tasked with delivering fentanyl on behalf of Ortiz-Alcantara. Over four months between July and November 2021, he delivered approximately 500 grams of fentanyl on four occasions to a cooperating source.
Estarlin Ortiz-Alcantara entered a guilty plea in December 2023 and is set to be sentenced on February 5, 2025.
The announcement was made by United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; New Bedford Police Chief Paul Oliveira; and Fairhaven Police Chief Michael J. Myers. The case received special assistance from various agencies including the Massachusetts State Police, Homeland Security Investigations, Bristol County Sheriff's Office, and multiple police departments from Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. Mulcahy from the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case as part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation aimed at disrupting high-level criminal organizations threatening the United States.