Londonderry Man Pleads Guilty to Gun, Fentanyl Charges

CONCORD, NH — A local man pleaded guilty last week to gun and drug charges in U.S. District Court, according to a press statement. Christopher DeCoste, 20, of Londonderry, possessed more than 400 grams of fentanyl with intent to distribute and also being a felon in possession of a firearm.

According to court documents and statements at the plea hearing, on April 14, 2016, the law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at the defendant’s residence in Londonderry to search for evidence of the defendant’s drug trafficking activity. During the search, approximately 800 grams of fentanyl were recovered, as well as $42,850 in United States currency. Officers also found a .22 Walther handgun with a magazine and two rounds of ammunition hidden in a wall.

"DeCoste later admitted that he intended to sell the drugs that were seized and that he had the gun for protection in case he was robbed," according to U.S. Attorney Emily Ann Rice.

According to statistics maintained by the state of New Hampshire, over half of the drug overdose deaths in New Hampshire in 2015 were related to fentanyl, she noted. Because a single gram of heroin or fentanyl can be used to create multiple individual dosage units that can be sold “on the street,” the quantity of fentanyl involved in this case could have generated a large number of individual doses of fentanyl, each of which had the potential to cause a fatal overdose. DeCoste will be sentenced in November.