CONCORD, NH — The U.S. Attorney's Office recently released the following information.
Three men pleaded guilty last week in federal court in a case tied to illegal bobcat hunting in New Hampshire and shipping pelts to Canada, according to U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan.
Sherwood Dubrey Jr., 48, and Randy Inman, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Lacey Act. Sherwood Dubrey Sr., 72, pleaded guilty to a Lacey Act violation.
The defendants will be sentenced in January 2027. Dubrey Jr. and Inman each face a maximum prison term of five years and no more than three years of supervised release, while Dubrey Sr. faces a maximum prison term of one year and no more than one year of supervised release.
The Lacey Act, enacted 126 years ago, prohibits wildlife violations that cross state or international borders. In New Hampshire, it is unlawful to hunt or trap bobcats. Hunters must obtain a tag under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, to export a lawfully hunted bobcat pelt.
Dubrey Jr. and Inman conspired to violate the Lacey Act by poaching bobcats in New Hampshire, transporting them to New York, where Dubrey Sr. obtained false CITES tags, and then shipping the pelts to Canada for sale at a fur auction. Text messages and other evidence showed that for more than four years, Dubrey Jr. and Inman routinely killed bobcats in New Hampshire, including by using bait piles on their property and on state land to lure the animals to be shot.
The defendants discussed the scheme in messages and acknowledged that the poaching was illegal. In one message, Inman confirmed to Dubrey Jr. that he shot or choked out an illegally trapped bobcat. In another message, Dubrey Jr. told his father he did not want a legal bobcat hunting season in New Hampshire because it would create "competition."
Inman and Dubrey Jr. also used rifles with scopes capable of capturing videos and photographs of the killings and sent those images and videos to others by text message. From 2018 to 2022, Dubrey Jr. and Inman illegally exported at least 41 poached bobcat pelts, according to the public record.
A Laconia man was sentenced in federal court to 160 months in prison and four years of supervised release after pleading to one count of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, according to information released in the case.
Benjamin M. Fields, 43, was sentenced on Oct. 1 in a case brought by New Hampshire's Homeland Security Task Force. According to related pleadings and statements made in court, the case centered on a drug trafficking organization operating in Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts, that supplied narcotics to customers and sub-distributors in New Hampshire and Maine.
Law enforcement officers received information in October 2023 that the organization was using text messages and social media messaging apps to traffic drugs. From the fall of 2023 into the spring of 2024, law enforcement officers conducted a series of controlled drug purchases and court-authorized searches of residences used by the organization.
Those searches resulted in the seizure of about two and a half kilograms of fentanyl, 250 grams of methamphetamine, and 28 grams of cocaine, according to the case summary. The searches also led to the recovery of handguns. During the investigation, law enforcement officers also searched social media accounts and mobile phones controlled by the organization, and those searches revealed communications with numerous sub-distributors arranging drug purchases totaling about 20 kilograms of fentanyl, one kilogram of methamphetamine, and 200 grams of cocaine. Six sub-distributors sought to trade firearms, including shotguns, rifles, and handguns, for narcotics.
The case identified Fields as one of several New Hampshire-based sub-distributors. He purchased for redistribution more than 3 kilograms of fentanyl, along with other controlled substances, during a six-month period in 2023 and 2024 for resale to his own customers.
A Hampton man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly failing to register as a sex offender in New Hampshire.
Jamie Melendez, 37, of Hampton was indicted last month on a single felony count. He will appear in federal court in Concord on a later date.
Melendez is required to register but, despite that requirement, he traveled from Massachusetts to New Hampshire and knowingly failed to register, according to the indictment. He faces up to 10 years in prison.
He is a sex offender due to a felonious sexual assault-victim 13 or older but under 16 with an age difference of three years and three counts of felonious sexual assault-victim 13 or older and under 16 with an age difference of more than four years, according to the state of New Hampshire.
Editor's note: This post was derived from information provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office and does not constitute a conviction. This link explains how to request the removal of a name from New Hampshire Patch police reports.
A jury found Dominican national, Andri Pimental Arias, 23, guilty in a multistate fentanyl trafficking case investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration with assistance from Nashua police and New Hampshire State Police. He was found guilty after a four-day trial on Sept. 18. Arias was convicted of conspiring to distribute and possessing with intent to distribute more than 400 grams of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl.
The investigation began in the fall of 2022 and focused on a Lawrence, Massachusetts-based drug trafficking organization that distributed fentanyl across New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Prosecutors said the organization used social media, messaging applications, and a dedicated phone line to take drug orders and send runners to make deliveries. The evidence presented at trial showed that Pimentel Arias worked as one of those runners.
A Rochester man was indicted in mid-September by a federal grand jury on two child pornography charges.
Jaythien Guillermo was indicted on one count of production of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. He faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years and a maximum prison term of 30 years. Read more about this case here: Rochester Man Arrested On Statutory Rape And Computer Services Prohibited Charges In Concord
A Hyde Park, Massachusetts, woman pleaded guilty in federal court on Sept. 2 in a drug conspiracy case tied to trafficking activity in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Felina Pimental, 24, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
In late 2023, law enforcement agencies began investigating a drug-trafficking organization operating in both states, using cooperating witnesses and an undercover officer to conduct controlled narcotics purchases from various members of the organization. The records say transactions were typically arranged through the group's customer telephone, usually operated by the alleged leader, co-defendant Alexander Aguasvivas-Pena, or someone acting at his direction, identified in court records as Pimental.
Customers would call the number to arrange a drug deal. Pimental was involved in multiple transactions. During the conspiracy, the organization trafficked more than 10 kilograms of methamphetamine and other drugs, according to court documents and statements.
Pimental faces between 10 years and life in prison as well as at least five years of supervised release and a maximum fine of $10 million. She will be sentenced in mid-December.
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