A 24-year-old Methuen man pleaded guilty this week in federal court in Boston to selling a fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl mixture to an undercover agent on five occasions.
Andi Guerrero-Lara, also known as “Manny Sierra,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 100 grams or more of acetyl fentanyl; three counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and 10 grams or more of acetyl fentanyl; two counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute 10 grams or more of acetyl fentanyl and fentanyl; and possession with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of acetyl fentanyl and 40 grams or more of fentanyl.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for May 5.
According to U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell’s office Guerrero-Lara was first indicted along with Angel Rivera-Valle in December 2019. He was charged in a superseding indictment on Sept. 2, 2020.
They were members of a drug trafficking organization operating in the Merrimack Valley that regularly sold large quantities of fentanyl. Between September and October 2019, an undercover agent purchased a fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl mixture from them on five separate dates. According to court documents, after Rivera-Valle was arrested, Guerrero-Lara led agents on a high-speed car chase that spanned numerous miles and three cities during which Guerrero-Lara endangered multiple lives, as he narrowly missed crashing into a construction zone and police vehicles. Ultimately, Guerrero-Lara stopped his vehicle at an apartment complex in Lawrence and was arrested.
On Sept. 8, 2020, Rivera-Valle was sentenced by Judge Sterns to more than five years in prison and four years of supervised release.