Lawrence Man Gets 54 Months for Heroin Trafficking

Wilkin Andre Beltre Arias, 39, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, is headed to federal prison for 54 months after admitting his role in a heroin trafficking ring that pumped narcotics across state lines into New Hampshire. The sentence, handed down Monday in Concord, marks the latest takedown in a sweeping DEA crackdown on organized drug networks exploiting the region’s porous borders and small-town vulnerabilities.

Court documents reveal Arias was a key middleman in a conspiracy that operated from June 2016 to October 2016, receiving bulk shipments of heroin and distributing them to buyers in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He didn’t run a back-alley operation — he used his job at a Lawrence barbershop as a drop point, turning clippers and chairs into cover for a steady flow of deadly drugs. Customers walked in for a trim and walked out with a death sentence in their pocket.

Arias pleaded guilty on September 21, 2017, to conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, heroin. With no legal status in the U.S., he now faces near-certain deportation to the Dominican Republic the moment he exits prison custody — a one-way ticket after years of profiting off addiction.

This case was part of a broader DEA-led assault on New Hampshire’s heroin pipeline, funded through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The sweep has already netted major sentences: Alberto Guerrero Marte, 38, got 15 years; Toribio Guerrero Marte, 34, got 10 years; Maria Miguelina Lara, 33, got 36 months; Allan Raymond Pimentel, 22, got 57 months; and Jose De La Altagracia Pimentel Lara, 26, was hit with 63 months. Even the juveniles weren’t spared — Allison DeJesus, just 19, got five years probation; Jonaly DeJesus, 22, got time served and five years supervised release.

Mark Gagnon, 54, of Candia, was sentenced to 48 months in a related case, while Michell DeJesus, 34, Santo Rodolfo Garcia Mendez, 33, and Edward Garcia, 31, still await their day in court. The investigation spanned local, state, and federal lines, involving Homeland Security Investigations, Massachusetts State Police, New Hampshire State Police, and a dozen law enforcement agencies including the Haverhill, Manchester, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, and Hillsborough County Drug Task Force.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Feith prosecuted the case, backed by OCDETF’s war chest — a federal program designed to dismantle drug cartels from the inside out. This wasn’t a lone dealer. It was a network. And now, every link is snapping under federal weight.

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