Two Providence residents face charges in sale of fentanyl – News – providencejournal.com

Luis Aquino-Alcantara, 22, and Maribel Almonte, 29, both of 240 Unit St. in Providence, are being held without bail pending hearings in District Court on Friday.

FALL RIVER, Mass. — Two Providence residents were arrested in the sale of fentanyl worth $90,000, court documents show.

Luis Aquino-Alcantara, 22, and Maribel Almonte, 29, both of 240 Unit St. in Providence, are being held without bail pending hearings in Fall River District Court on Friday.

Police say Aquino-Alcantara, who is originally from the Dominican Republic and operates an unidentified business in Providence, was working as a drug runner for a trafficking organization in the city.

A confidential informant, who had a “strong incentive to cooperate with law enforcement” because of his criminal record, helped local police make the case, according to a report written by Detective Brian Cabral.

The informant told Cabral, who was assigned to the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Fall River police vice squad, that Aquino-Alcantara had agreed to sell the informant 1,000 grams of fentanyl for $55,000 and front him an additional 250 grams, according to the report.

On Friday, investigators surveilled Aquino-Alcantara at several locations in Providence, according to a police report, and saw a man who matched his description visiting the Unit Street home in a white Honda Accord.

Later that day, Aquino-Alcantara placed a series of calls to the informant and arranged to meet him at a “predetermined location” in Fall River. Court documents show that Aquino-Alcantara and Almonte were arrested at Applebee’s Bar & Grill on Plymouth Avenue.

A recording device was given to the informant, who met with Aquino-Alcantara inside the Applebee’s, then walked out with the defendant several minutes later.

Aquino-Alcantara got into the driver’s side door of the Honda Accord, where Almonte had been sitting, and the informant joined them. The car drove to the back of the restaurant, then minutes later the informant walked back to the parking lot.

The informant told detectives there were narcotics in the Accord. Police converged on the car, and Aquino-Alcantara attempted to drive away but was caught a short distance away, according to the report.

About 1,240 grams of fentanyl, which the police valued at $90,000, was found on a back seat of the vehicle.

Aquino-Alcantara and Almonte were each charged with felony drug trafficking over 200 grams, conspiracy to violate drug law and fentanyl trafficking, according to court documents.