Haverhill Woman, 54, Sentenced to 60 Months in Prison for Heroin Trafficking

File photograph. (Image licensed by Ingram Image.)

A 54-year-old Haverhill woman has been sentenced to 60 months in federal prison for her role in a heroin trafficking conspiracy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.

Judith Ardolino will serve time behind bars for operating so-called “trap houses,” or residences where customers of the drug trafficking ring could meet dealers. Drugs originating from the trap houses were sold in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Ardolino, indicted in October 2016, is the second of nine defendants to be sentenced in the conspiracy. Eric Sederquest was sentenced to serve 92 months in prison. The alleged ringleader, Alberto Guerrero Marte, was charged in a separate indictment and pleaded guilty. He is currently serving a 15-year federal prison sentence.

“Stopping the distribution of heroin and other deadly drugs is a high priority of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners,” Acting U.S. Attorney John J. Farley said. “Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement colleagues, a substantial drug trafficking operation has been dismantled.”

The Haverhill Police Department joined the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security, the Massachusetts State Police and numerous other local law enforcement agencies to investigate the matter.