Cape Cod Man Gets 20 Years for $5 Million Drug Trafficking Scheme

The first of two Cape Cod brothers, who were convicted in a $5 million drug trafficking scheme, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in U.S. District Court on Thursday.

Joshua M. Gonsalves, 34, of Dennisport, was additionally sentenced to five years of supervised release and forfeiture of $1,522,372 and property that includes seized currency, a house in West Yarmouth, a Cadillac and a Nissan Altima, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.

Joshua Gonsalves and his brother Stanley D. Gonsalves, 36, of Sandwich, were convicted in federal court in October for distributing thousands of oxycodone pills and earning over $5 million in proceeds from 2009 to 2012.

More on the conviction:

• Cape Cod Brothers Convicted in $5 Million Drug Trafficking Scheme

Drug transporters working for the brothers moved thousands of 30 milligram oxycodone pill loads from South Florida to New England by plane and car, according to witnesses. The pills were then brought to hotels and residences in Dorchester, Quincy and Onset to be divided and sold.

Witnesses also testified that the brothers’ co-conspirators seized 8,000 pills in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 900 pills in Volusia County, Fla., 280 pills along Route 6 in Barnstable, 4,000 pills along Route 3 Southbound, and other related cash seizures totaling $167,000, according to the indictment.

The money laundering conspiracy used the millions of dollars in drug proceeds to buy new supplies of oxycodone pills and to pay the ongoing expenses, the indictment states.

Stanley Gonsalves will be sentenced on Tuesday, Feb. 24. He faces a maximum sentences of 20 years for oxycodone trafficking conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and concealment laundering charges. He also could be sentenced up to 10 years for unlawful monetary transaction laundering, with an additional five years for the firearms charge.

The Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation division contributed to the investigation of this case.