A fentanyl-trafficking organization once reared its head in Peabody.
Ana Checo, 42, was sentenced to 135 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release by the United States District Court earlier this month. She pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl, 100 grams or more of valeryl fentanyl, and one count of money laundering conspiracy in September.
Checo was first identified as a member of a drug-trafficking and money-laundering organization in June 2019. Her main responsibility was acquiring and transporting narcotics from drug suppliers in Sinaloa, Mexico for distribution in Massachusetts.
Shortly after being identified, authorities of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force took action. Checo unknowingly made many transactions with undercover agents in the Boston area. Shortly before being caught, she met with a tractor-trailer-truck driver in Peabody to receive a suitcase containing 55 kilograms of fentanyl, reportedly worth more than $1 million.
“Fentanyl is causing tremendous damage to the state of Massachusetts,” Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England Division Brian D. Boyle said in a statement. “Let this sentence be a warning to those traffickers who are distributing this poison in order to profit and destroy people’s lives. The DEA’s top priority is combating the opioid epidemic by working with our local, county, state, and federal partners to bring to justice anyone who distributes this deadly drug.”
