Twenty-eight-year-old Haverhill man Nicholas Messina has been ordered to spend 72 months in prison after pleading guilty to firearms possession and drug trafficking charges, United States Attorney Scott W. Murray’s office said Thursday.
Arrested at a Nashua, N.H. hotel with fentanyl, cocaine, a loaded gun and thousands of dollars in cash, Messina later told authorities he intended to distribute the drugs.
The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Brian D. Boyle praised the joint efforts of his agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Nashua Police Department for working to get the deadly drugs off the street.
“Illegal drug distribution ravages the very foundations of our families and communities, so every time we take fentanyl off the streets, lives are saved,” Boyle told WHAV in a statement. “Let this sentence be a warning to those traffickers like Mr. Messina who are coming from out of state to distribute this poison, that DEA and its local, state and federal partners will do everything in our power to bring you to justice.”
Closer to home, Messina is no stranger to Haverhill Police. Over the last three years, he has been arrested at least four times on charges including drug possession, shoplifting, disorderly conduct and driving with a suspended license.