Sixteen people are facing criminal charges in connection with the dismantling of a massive fentanyl and cocaine trafficking operation in Massachusetts, authorities announced Wednesday.
The Massachusetts State Police Commonwealth Interstate Narcotics Reduction Enforcement Team, Homeland Security Investigations, Raynham police, and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office jointly conducted “Operation No Love” in mid-April, executing search warrants at 20 locations in Fall River, Taunton, Raynham, Norton, Pembroke, and Falmouth.
During the searches, state police said law enforcement arrested 16 people, seized about 2,360 grams of cocaine and 1,364 grams of fentanyl, 33 firearms, multiple high-capacity magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and $109,355 in cash.
State police noted that Operation No Love began in March of 2024 when troopers, officers from Brockton and East Bridgewater, and a special agent with HSI launched a narcotics investigation into a drug trafficking organization involved in the distribution of fentanyl and cocaine in Bristol County.
During the investigation, an undercover trooper made nine controlled drug purchases with a member of the drug trafficking organization. Investigators then used physical and electronic surveillance, toll analysis, and court-authorized electronic intercepts of target cellphones to “identify the organization’s hierarchy, primary subjects, communication devices, vehicles, methods of operation, and sources of narcotics supply,” state police said in a news release.
The following suspects were arrested on various drug and firearms charges, according to state police:
- Yosef Ali, 49, of Fall River
- Jean Carlos Castillo Mendoza, 44, of Fall River
- Jorge Santiago, 36, of Taunton
- Jorge Arce, 46, of Taunton
- Neftali Torres, 51, of Taunton
- Christopher McLaughlin, 43, of Taunton
- Shawn Roias, 35, of Taunton
- Courtney Whitmore, 27, of Taunton
- Val Bettencourt, 50, of Taunton
- Brayton Crites, 26, of Taunton
- Andrew Williams, 27, of Raynham
- Sabrina Cohen, 27, of Taunton
- Lucas Guimaraes, 29, of Norton
- Brian Szakaly, 27, of Raynham
- David Brasil, 45, of Falmouth
- Mary Hunt, 59, of Falmouth
- Lucas Guimaraes
Nearly 200 law enforcement officials later came together on April 15 and 16 to dismantle the operation.
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