Man in SE MA drug trafficking conspiracy sentenced to prison concerning heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, oxycodone, marijuana

BOSTON – A Brockton man was sentenced this week in federal court in Boston for his role in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

Carlos Antunes, 36, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 65 months in prison and four years of supervised release. On March 11, 2021, Antunes pleaded guilty to two counts of a multi-count indictment charging him with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin, 400 grams or more of fentanyl, cocaine, cocaine base, oxycodone, and marijuana, and one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

According to court documents, in the fall of 2018, law enforcement agents began investigating a Brockton drug crew headed by Djuna Goncalves. The investigation revealed that Goncalves worked with Antunes and others to distribute large quantities of fentanyl, cocaine, cocaine base, heroin and marijuana throughout southeastern Massachusetts. Agents intercepted telephone calls and observed meetings between Goncalves and Antunes where Antunes ordered fentanyl from Goncalves. On Oct. 12, 2018, agents seized fentanyl from a customer of Antunes shortly after Goncalves and Antunes delivered the fentanyl to him.

Antunes and Goncalves were indicted along with 15 others in a wide-ranging drug conspiracy that included members of Goncalves’s Brockton crew and several Boston-based drug traffickers who supplied Goncalves with controlled substances. Of the 17 defendants named in the indictment, 11, including Antunes, have pleaded guilty. Antunes is the ninth defendant to be sentenced in 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. More information on the OCDETF program is available here: https://www.justice.gov/ocdetf/about-ocdetf.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Matthew B. Millhollin, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Division; and Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Pohl and Alathea Porter of Mendell’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.