Crime & Safety
Lawrence Men To Be Sentenced On Conspiracy To Distribute Fentanyl
Santo Benito Lara was found guilty by a jury and Geudin Nivar Baez pleaded out. They both were involved in drug dealing in Salem.
CONCORD, NH — Two Lawrence, MA, men will be sentenced on fentanyl charges in U.S. District Court later this year after one was found guilty by a jury last week and the other pleaded guilty on Wednesday. On May 10, 2019, Santo Benito Lara, 46, was found guilty for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. On May 15, Geudin Nivar Baez, aka Jhonatan Mateo, 31, pleaded guilty to the same crime.
According to court documents and statements, Lara and Nivar participated in a conspiracy to sell fentanyl to a customer in Salem back in May 2018. After the DEA received information about the conspiracy, it began investigating Lara. Between May and September 2018, investigators tracked Lara and Nivar as they sold fentanyl in Lawrence, MA, to a cooperating individual on multiple occasions.
Both men will be sentenced in August.
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“Interstate fentanyl traffickers facilitate the sale of a lethal drug in New Hampshire,” noted U.S. Attorney Scott Murray. “Close cooperation by law enforcement agencies operating in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts is necessary to address this problem. We will continue to coordinate efforts to identify and prosecute those who are responsible for distributing this deadly drug in the Granite State.”
Assisting the DEA were the New Hampshire State Police and the Essex County MA Sheriff’s Department.
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