Seven From Brockton Indicted on Fentanyl and Firearms Charges

From the U.S. Attorney's Office:

Seven Brockton residents were indicted in U.S. District Court in Boston with trafficking fentanyl and with firearms-related charges.

Luis DaCosta, 21, aka “Jesse” and “Slu;” Gilvan Monteiro, 25, aka “G;” Edson Gomes, 19, aka “E” and “Evil;” Seidica Monteiro, 27; Jeffrey Oliveira, 21, aka “Chubbs;” and Justin Marceline, 33, were charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl. Gomes and DaCosta are also charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Gabriel Nieves, 24, is also charged with one count of being an unlawful user of controlled substance in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

DaCosta, Gomes and Monteiro were already in federal custody following their arrests on a criminal complaint on April 4, 2016. Monteiro was arrested this morning and detained pending a detention hearing scheduled for May 24, 2016. Marceline is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston tomorrow. Oliveira remains a fugitive and information on his whereabouts, should be directed to the Brockton Police Department. Nieves was already in state custody on related state charges.

According to charging documents, from December 2015 to March 2016, the defendants sold fentanyl on numerous occasions in the Brockton area, and several times the drug was seized by law enforcement officers from the defendants’ associates. In addition, on Feb. 11, 2016, law enforcement officers seized a loaded Smith and Wesson .40 caliber handgun from an associate of Gomes’s during a vehicle stop, and seized a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun and more than 30 grams of fentanyl from the hotel room in which both Monteiro and DaCosta were staying when they were arrested on April 5, 2016.

According to the complaint affidavit, the defendants are alleged to have violent histories and gang associations. Monteiro has a lengthy criminal record which includes narcotics and firearms offenses and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. According to the affidavit, law enforcement seized fentanyl from Monteiro’s customers on numerous occasions. Gomes, who also has a violent criminal history, is alleged to have engaged in gang-related shootings and a car chase with police as recently as December 2015. According to the affidavit, DaCosta was recently released on bail after he allegedly shot a person in Rhode Island on March 19, 2016. DaCosta also allegedly sold fentanyl to a person that overdosed in February 2016.

This case is brought as part of the federal response to the growing opioid abuse epidemic in Massachusetts and other New England states. A recent surge in overdose deaths has been attributed in part to the addition of Fentanyl to heroin. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiate that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and, when added to heroin, creates a toxic mixture substantially more potent, and more dangerous, than heroin alone.

The conspiracy charge provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, a minimum of three years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million. The charge of firearm possession in furtherance of drug trafficking provides an additional five years in prison to the sentence. The charge of unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and ammunition carries a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.