Melvin Nieves, Counterfeit Prescription Pill Manufacturing, Massachusetts 2023

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Table of Contents

Lynn Man Sentenced for Role in Wide-Ranging Counterfeit Prescription Pill Manufacturing Ring

BOSTON – In a blow to the North Shore’s illicit drug trade, a Lynn man has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in a wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic counterfeit prescription pills. Melvin Nieves, 25, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Nieves was responsible for the distribution of approximately 400 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing undisclosed amounts of fentanyl. At the time of his arrest in October 2022, he had just checked a suitcase at Logan Airport that contained $30,000 in cash drug proceeds he was transporting to California to purchase additional controlled substances.

Nieves was also found to possess an additional $8,054 in drug proceeds, as well as assorted jewelry and a Louis Vuitton bag – both of which were purchased from earlier drug sales.

The Lynn man’s sentence is the latest development in a case that has seen 23 individuals charged in connection with the wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic counterfeit prescription pills. The defendants were subsequently indicted along with two additional alleged co-conspirators in December 2022.

Nieves is the second defendant to be sentenced in the case. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and John E. Mawn Jr., Interim Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today.

Valuable assistance was provided by the Beverly, Everett, Peabody, Revere, Salem, Saugus and Swampscott Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys James E. Arnold and Evan D. Panich of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.

This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.