East Longmeadow Man Arrested for Marijuana Trafficking

 BOSTON – An East Longmeadow man was arrested on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, and charged in federal court in Springfield for marijuana trafficking.

John Americo Pereira, 33, was charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He appeared in federal court in Springfield this afternoon and was ordered detained pending a detention hearing.

According to court documents, since January 2018, law enforcement have been investigating Pereira and others for distributing marijuana. A search warrant was executed on Feb. 8, 2019, at Pereira’s home where agents discovered approximately $688,000 in a safe and 260 pounds of suspected marijuana. Additional search warrants have been executed at locations in East Longmeadow, Springfield and Ellington, Conn., where law enforcement have discovered, in total, more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana.

Pereira faces a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a minimum of three years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil L. Desroches of Lelling’s Springfield Branch Office and Trial Attorney Marianne Shelvey, of the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Organized Crime and Gang Section, are prosecuting the case. 

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.