Dominican national sentenced to prison after trafficking fentanyl in Massachusetts, stealing an identity

BOSTON – A Dominican national was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Boston for fentanyl trafficking and using the Social Security number of a U.S. citizen to obtain a driver’s license.

Santo Patricio Lugo Santos, 43, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 72 months in prison. Lugo Santos will be subject to deportation upon completion of his sentence. In October 2019, Lugo Santos pleaded guilty to two counts of distribution of and possession with intent to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl, one count of false representation of a Social Security number, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Lugo Santos has been in custody since his arrest on Feb. 14, 2019.

According to charging documents, Lugo Santos made two sales of fentanyl to a cooperating witness in October 2016 and January 2017. Additionally, in July 2018, he used the Social Security number of a U.S. citizen to obtain a Massachusetts driver’s license.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case was investigated by the OCDETF Strike Force with assistance from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office and the Boston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen W. Hassink of Lelling’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit is prosecuting the case.

The operation was conducted by a multi-agency task force through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), a partnership between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking, weapons trafficking and money laundering organizations, and those primarily responsible for the nation’s illegal drug supply.