A former Methuen man pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Boston to conspiracy to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl and misusing a Social Security number.
Twenty-nine-year-old Bladimir Sanchez Soto pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and false representation of a Social Security number. U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin scheduled sentencing for July 27. Sanchez Soto, a Dominican national, was indicted in May 2020.
Boston Acting U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell’s office said Sanchez Soto helped arrange four sales of approximately 65 grams of fentanyl in November 2019 and January 2020. In February 2020, Sanchez Soto and another person were arrested and additional fentanyl was seized. Sanchez Soto was previously indicted in the Western District of Michigan in connection with using a false name and Social Security number to obtain a Michigan driver’s license in Nov. 2016.
The charge of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl provides for a minimum sentence of five years and up to 40 years in prison, at least four years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a $5 million fine. The charge of false representation of a Social Security number provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.