Melvin Nieves, Drug Trafficking, Massachusetts 2023

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Counterfeit Pill Trafficker Sentenced to 27 Months

A Lynn man has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in a North Shore-based drug trafficking organization that manufactured and distributed tens of thousands of counterfeit prescription pills containing narcotics.

Melvin Nieves, 25, pleaded guilty in October 2023 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

Nieves was among 23 individuals charged in October 2022 in connection with a wide-ranging conspiracy to traffic counterfeit prescription pills. The defendants were subsequently indicted along with two additional alleged co-conspirators in December 2022.

According to court documents, the drug trafficking organization distributed counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl and counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine to various individuals in the Lynn area.

Nieves was responsible for the distribution of approximately 400 counterfeit oxycodone pills containing undisclosed amounts of fentanyl. At the time of Nieves’ 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 also possessed 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.

Acting U.S. 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.