Groveton Woman Sentenced to 65 Months for Participating in Fentanyl Trafficking Conspiracy

          CONCORD – Meredith Willey, 38, of Groveton, New Hampshire, was sentenced on Tuesday to serve 65 months in prison for participating in a fentanyl trafficking conspiracy, United States Attorney Scott W. Murray announced today.

          According to court documents and statements made in court, as a result of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation, agents and task force officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration learned that on March 1, 2018, an individual intended to travel from New Hampshire to a location in Lawrence, Massachusetts to purchase 250 grams of a controlled substance.  Agents conducted surveillance in the area of the transaction and observed a known drug trafficker get in the back seat of the car and exit a few minutes later.  The vehicle left Massachusetts and agents followed it directly to New Hampshire.

         The agents informed a New Hampshire State Trooper patrolling Interstate Route 93 about their surveillance observations.   The trooper stopped the vehicle for traffic violations and identified Willey as the driver.  Willey subsequently admitted that she and her co-conspirator went to Lawrence to buy “dope.”  Willey consented to a search of the car and signed a consent to search form.  The troopers found a hidden compartment containing approximately 240 grams of fentanyl.  Willey admitted that she and the co-conspirator purchased fentanyl in Lawrence and resold the drug in New Hampshire. After a consent search of the defendant’s and her co-conspirator’s residence, law enforcement seized $11,000 in drug proceeds and five firearms.

        Willey previously pleaded guilty on September 24, 2018.

        “Interstate fentanyl traffickers will be arrested, prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms,” said U.S. Attorney Murray.  “The law enforcement community in New Hampshire is united in its determination to stop the flow of fentanyl into the Granite State.  By aggressively prosecuting the traffickers who bring this deadly drug into New Hampshire, we are seeking to protect all of our state’s citizens.”

        “Fentanyl is causing deaths in record numbers and DEA’s top priority is to aggressively pursue anyone who distributes this poison,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle.  “Today’s sentence not only holds Ms. Willey accountable for her crimes but serves as a warning to those traffickers who are fueling the opioid epidemic.” 

          The case was a collaborative investigation that involved the DEA; the New Hampshire State Police; the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office; the Nashua Police Department; the Massachusetts State Police; the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office; the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office; the Essex County District Attorney’s Office; the Internal Revenue Service; Immigration and

          Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; United States Customs and Border Protection Boston Field Office; the United States Marshals Service; the United States Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; the Manchester Police Department; the Lisbon Police Department; the Littleton Police Department; the Seabrook Police Department; the Haverhill (MA) Police Department; the Methuen (MA) Police Department; the Lowell (MA) Police Department; and the Maine State Police.

         The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Georgiana L. Konesky, Seth R. Aframe and Debra M. Walsh.

         This case was supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).  The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.  

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