Federal Judge Sends North Andover Man, Who Brought Drugs to Jail, to Prison for 8 Years

John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse. (Beyond My Ken, Creative Commons.))

A 25-year-old North Andover man who participated in a drug dealing scheme involving gang members in Lawrence, Haverhill and Methuen and a planned kidnapping, was sentenced Monday in federal court in Boston.

Steven Rios was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to eight years in prison and three years of supervised release. Last October, Rios pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to smuggle Suboxone into the Essex County Jail.

U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins’ office said in a press release Rios and a dozen others were charged in November 2021 after investigators intercepted communications between gang members and drug suppliers allegedly dealing in fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and Suboxone in Massachusetts, Maine and southern New Hampshire as well as into the Essex County Jail.

Jail officials were able to screen Rios, who had attempted to smuggle drugs into the jail by swallowing them. After several days at the hospital, jail officials seized Suboxone from Rios.

Intercepted telephone calls between Rios and other gang members also suggested they conspired to kidnap and assault a marijuana supplier from Maine as a result of suspicions the drug supplier stole one of Rios’s breeding dogs.

Comments are closed.