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Truck driver could face life in prison after guilty plea in fentanyl distribution case

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This week, a truck driver pleaded guilty to charges related to drug trafficking following his arrest in Massachusetts in 2018.

On April 5, Nelson Garcia Martinez pleaded guilty to a single count of distribution of 400 grams or more of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts.

Garcia Martinez, who is a “a Salvadoran national previously residing in Stockton, California,” was charged and arrested in November 2018 after a federal surveillance operation at a rest stop in Sturbridge.

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

Garcia Martinez was arrested on Nov. 13, 2018, after federal agents conducting surveillance at a rest stop in Sturbridge observed Garcia Martinez meet with two unidentified individuals outside of Garcia Martinez’s tractor trailer. When the two unidentified individuals left the area, law enforcement attempted to stop their vehicle, but they fled. When they did finally pull to the side of the road, the passenger exited the car and discarded a vacuum sealed garment bag and then fled into the surrounding woods, while the driver of the car fled the scene at high speed. The garment bag burst open on the ground, and agents recovered 15 kilograms of a substance that tested positive for fentanyl. Garcia Martinez consented to a search of his tractor trailer, where vacuum sealed bags matching the one discarded on the side of the road were recovered.

Law enforcement were led to Garcia Martinez after discovering a phone number, later determined to be associated with the defendant, that was believed to be used by a drug transporter related to an October 2018 seizure of 32 kilos of fentanyl in Methuen.

The charge of distribution of 400 grams or more of fentanyl carries a sentence of at least ten years and up to life in prison in addition to at least five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $10 million. 

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