Roslindale Man Sentenced for Cocaine Trafficking

BOSTON – A Roslindale man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for his role in a cocaine distribution operation on the South Shore.

Roberto Fonseca-Rivera, 43, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release. On Sept. 11, 2017, Fonseca-Rivera pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine

From January 2015 through July 18, 2016, Fonseca-Rivera and four co-defendants, Angel Morales, of Stoughton; Pablo Santiago-Cruz, of Roslindale; Carlos Reyes, of Framingham; and Jorge Montalvo, of Roxbury, received in the mail more than 30 suspicious packages believed to be cocaine. The packages were sent from Puerto Rico to various addresses in Canton, Stoughton, Quincy, and Framingham, where Fonseca-Rivera and Montalvo retrieved the packages for Morales and Montalvo, and Reyes retrieved the packages for Santiago-Cruz. 

On July 18, 2018, a law enforcement officer stopped a vehicle driven by Reyes and seized a kilogram of cocaine that was hidden inside a toy oven that was in the trunk of Reyes’ vehicle. The next day, agents executed a search warrant at Santiago-Cruz’s apartment in Roslindale. Upon hearing the agents knock and announce their presence, Santiago-Cruz attempted to flush approximately 93 grams of cocaine down the toilet. When agents attempted to subdue Santiago-Cruz, he physically resisted and struck several of the officers.

Agents also executed a search warrant at Morales’ apartment in Stoughton and seized approximately $11,000 in cash, more than 100 grams of cocaine, a firearm with an obliterated serial number, and two magazines containing 15 rounds of ammunition each, a box containing an additional 10 rounds of ammunition, and various drug trafficking paraphernalia.

All five defendants have been convicted as part of the investigation. Morales was sentenced on Sept. 17, 2017, to eight years in prison. Montalvo pleaded guilty on Oct. 26, 2018, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 24, 2019. Pablo Santiago-Cruz, pleaded guilty on Sept. 25, 2018, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 14, 2019. Carlos Reyes, was convicted by a federal jury on Oc. 2, 2018, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 8, 2019.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Colonel Kerry Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Norfolk County District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey; and Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys James E. Arnold and Craig E. Estes of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.