A 31-year-old Methuen man pleaded guilty last Wednesday in federal court in Boston to his involvement in dealing in the deadly drug fentanyl.
Nino De Leon Guzman, also known as “Chino,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, two counts of distribution of fentanyl, distribution of 40 grams or more of fentanyl and possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
“Drug traffickers who pedal the poison that is fentanyl will be aggressively prosecuted by our office,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “The quantities at issue in this prosecution put real lives at risk and inflict a huge amount of harm on the hardworking people of Lawrence and Methuen who want to raise their families in communities free from drug trafficking and violence.”
U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for Oct. 27, 2022. Guzman was charged in June 2021 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in July 2021.
Court records report undercover police purchased fentanyl from Guzman and associated drug traffickers on nine separate occasions from October 2020 through about June 2021in the Lawrence and Methuen area.
At the time of his arrest, he was found with fentanyl and the cell phone undercover agents used to call him for fentanyl deals. A search of Guzman’s home in Methuen recovered a kilogram brick of fentanyl, blender containing multiple bags of fentanyl, drug ledger, clothing he wore during prior drug transactions and a sock in a nightstand containing $2,500 cash in drug proceeds, according to the documents.