Fall River fentanyl & heroin trafficker, once on most wanted list, sentenced to prison

A 29-year-old Fall River man arrested twice within a seven-month stretch for trafficking Fentanyl will spend the next eight to ten-and-a-half years in state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Stephen Arpa pleaded guilty last week in Fall River Superior Court to indictments charging him with trafficking in excess of 100 grams of Fentanyl, trafficking in excess of 18 grams of Fentanyl and trafficking in excess of 18 grams of heroin.

On April 30, 2018, detectives from the Fall River Police Department’s Vice Unit were conducting surveillance on the SouthCoast Marketplace on William S. Canning Boulevard in Fall River because of known drug activity occurring in the area. The detectives observed the defendant, who they knew to be a drug involved person, exit Market Basket with a male and a female. The trio approached two vehicles, a red Chevy pick-up truck and a white Ford Taurus. Arpa entered the Taurus, while the other two entered the truck. The vehicles were parked so that they were facing opposite directions but next to each other; thereby lining up the drivers’ side doors. The detectives observed this defendant engage in a hand to hand transaction between the vehicles.

When detectives approached the defendant, he initially ran on foot before being stopped by another detective. A small bag of narcotics was found in Arpa’s coat pocket. However, about 270 grams of heroin mixed with Fentanyl were located in the defendant’s vehicle, along with a scale and more than $3,000 in cash.

After being released on bail, the defendant was again arrested on January 11, 2019, in Fall River. On that date, Fall River Police detectives obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s residence at 135 Haffords St. While surveilling the residence, detectives witnessed the defendant leave his apartment. When detectives stopped him, they found him in possession of several bags of fentanyl and heroin, weighing around 100 grams, and more than $2,000 in cash. Inside his apartment, detectives seized cutting agents, digital scales, empty glassine baggies, and elastics.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Daniel Walsh and the state prison sentence was imposed by Judge Debra Squires-Lee.

“The defendant was caught with a very large amount of fentanyl, which is the root cause of the increase in fatal overdoses during the last five years. Unfortunately, the defendant was released on bail and was caught selling fentanyl again. A significant prison sentence was warranted,” District Attorney Quinn said.