Rhode Island Man Pleads Guilty to Shipping Fentanyl to Australia

A Providence man has admitted to shipping fentanyl to Australia, in a brazen attempt to export the deadly opioid from the United States.

Felix Suarez, 25, pleaded guilty on Thursday to charges filed in a five-count federal indictment that alleged he attempted to export fentanyl on multiple occasions.

The charges include conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, two counts of attempt to distribute a controlled substance, unlawful export of a controlled substance, and unlawful use of a communication facility to facilitate the distribution of a controlled substance.

Suarez is scheduled to be sentenced on August 1, 2024, and his sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

According to information presented to the court, on December 30, 2022, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized an outbound parcel destined to Sydney, Australia, shipped two days earlier from Providence via FedEx. The parcel, which listed a return address belonging to Suarez, declared to contain “DOCUMENTS,” but was found to contain approximately 37 grams of fentanyl.

Less than a month later, on January 17, 2023, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) was notified that Australian Federal Police had seized a second package mailed to the same identified recipient in Sydney. The package carried the same return address in Providence as the package mailed in late December 2022, and its contents were listed as “DOCUMENTS/INVOICES.” Australian authorities found it to contain approximately 25 grams of fentanyl.

Further investigation by HSI revealed that Suarez had manipulated the envelope containing the second package before mailing it from a UPS store in Providence. Surveillance camera footage showed Suarez obtain the envelope, return to his vehicle, and then re-enter the store to mail it.

The investigation also uncovered that Suarez had shipped a total of 67 parcels to the same recipient in Sydney, Australia, between January 2020 and January 2023. Each parcel had a similar weight and was identified as “DOCUMENTS/PAPER.”

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul F. Daly, Jr., and was investigated by a coalition of law enforcement agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Australian Federal Police, and local police departments.