Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen, North Andover and other area police departments are being credited with playing roles leading to a three-year prison sentence for a Lawrence man involved in a Lawrence-based fentanyl drug trafficking organization.
Last Friday, 25-year-old Elvin Mendoza of Lawrence was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Last June, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl.
In June 2021, Mendoza was indicted along with 13 others following a more than two-year investigation. According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston, Mendoza was responsible for distributing more than 300 grams of fentanyl throughout Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. In December 2020, approximately $74,000 cash and approximately four kilograms of fentanyl, among other evidence, were seized at locations in Billerica, Methuen, Lawrence and Ayden, N.C.