Fall River man pleads guilty to trafficking cocaine through the U.S. Postal Service

PROVIDENCE – A Fall River man pleaded guilty today to federal charges related to his participation in a conspiracy to traffic multiple kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to Rhode Island through the U.S. Postal Service.

David J. Knight, 48, admitted to the Court that for approximately eight months beginning in August 2016, he made multiple trips to Puerto Rico for the purpose of purchasing large quantities of cocaine that were then packaged and shipped through the U.S. Postal Service to various addresses in Rhode Island.

An investigation by U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents determined that Knight made at least nine trips to Puerto Rico to acquire approximately 250 grams of cocaine per trip. Through his participation in the conspiracy, Knight acquired at least two thousand two hundred fifty grams, or more than two kilograms of cocaine.

Appearing before U.S. District Court John J. McConnell, Jr., Knight pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess more than one kilogram of cocaine with the intent to distribute, and possession of more than one kilogram of cocaine with the intent to distribute, announced United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman and Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston.

Knight is scheduled to be sentenced on June 11, 2019.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland.

Knight is the ninth person charged in a series of ongoing investigations by U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents to identify and interrupt the delivery of packages of narcotics shipped through the U.S. Postal Service to addresses in Rhode Island, to identify individuals responsible for making the shipments, and to identify the intended recipients of the packages. Through these investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection agents have intercepted more than 100 packages containing 250 grams or more of cocaine, shipped from Puerto Rico to Rhode Island.