30 Jan New Bedford detectives bust fentanyl service – News – southcoasttoday.com
NEW BEDFORD — A repeat drug offender is being held for a dangerousness hearing after narcotics detectives broke up a fentanyl distribution service Monday, according to court documents.
Frank M. Rivera, 32, of 200 State St., Apartment 10, New Bedford, was ordered held without bail at the Bristol County House of Correction for a detention hearing Friday in New Bedford District Court, court records indicate. Judge Douglas J. Darnbrough granted prosecutors’ request Tuesday for the detention hearing.
Detectives with the New Bedford Police Department’s Organized Crime Intelligence Bureau raided Rivera’s State Street apartment about 5:30 p.m. Monday and seized 80.8 grams of fentanyl, six tablets of Oxycodone, two scales, packaging materials and $877 in cash, according to court documents.
Rivera is charged with trafficking fentanyl more than 36 grams, possession with intent to distribute a Class A substance, subsequent offense and possession of Oxycodone, court records say.
According to court documents, he was found guilty in January 2013 of possession with intent to distribute a Class A substance.
The New Bedford Police Department, in a news release, said Rivera’s delivery service was one of three separate fentanyl distribution operations broken up by narcotics detectives.
They made two arrests for drug trafficking on Jan. 22, according to Lt. Nathaniel Rodriguez, a NBPD spokesman.
The arrests come as New Bedford is seeing a spike in the number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses for the month of January.
They seized about 40 grams of fentanyl along with Oxycodone pills when they arrested Miguel Fuster Jr., 42, of 27 Chestnut St., Rodriguez said.
Detectives seized more than 30 grams of fentanyl and 15 grams of cocaine and arrested Jose E. Rodriguez, 41, of 445 Dartmouth St., he said.
“The New Bedford Police Department will continue to be relentless in 2019 in disrupting fentanyl distribution activity that is doing damage to our community, and that touches the lives of nearly every resident in some way,” said Deputy Police Chief Paul Oliveira.
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