10,000 Fentanyl Pills: Lawrence Man Admits Guilt

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LAWRENCE, MA – Joshua Morales, 31, is looking at serious time after pleading guilty to packing enough fentanyl to kill a town. The feds say Morales was caught red-handed last August with 10,000 counterfeit Percocet pills in his car – pills laced with the deadly opioid.

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According to court papers, investigators had Morales under surveillance as he left a Methuen house known to them as a drug production site, lugging a big orange duffel. A traffic stop in Lawrence quickly revealed the pills. But the pills were just the tip of the iceberg.

A raid on the Methuen location turned up an automated pill press churning out fake Adderall and Percocet. Cops seized multiple kilograms of counterfeit pills, along with mountains of fentanyl and methamphetamine powder. They also found all the fixings for a full-blown pill mill: cutting agents, blenders, scales, the whole nine yards.

Morales is facing up to 20 years in federal prison, plus a hefty fine and years of supervised release when he’s finally sprung. Judge Patti Saris will hand down the sentence on June 12, 2026.