Illegal Alien Bladimir Sanchez Soto of Methuen Sentenced for Drug Charges and Misuse of a Social Security Number

9-24-21

BOSTON – A Dominican national was sentenced on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 in federal court in Boston for conspiring to distribute more than 40 grams of fentanyl and misusing a Social Security number.

Bladimir Sanchez Soto, 29, formerly of Methuen, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Sanchez Soto will be subject to deportation proceedings upon completion of his sentence. On March 30, 2021, Sanchez Soto pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and one count of false representation of a Social Security number.

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In November 2019 and January 2020, Sanchez Soto helped arrange four sales of approximately 65 grams of fentanyl. In February 2020, Sanchez Soto and a co-defendant were arrested and additional fentanyl was seized. Sanchez Soto was previously indicted in the Western District of Michigan in connection with using a false name and Social Security number to obtain a Michigan driver’s license in November 2016. The matter was transferred to the District of Massachusetts for plea and sentencing.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; United States Attorney Andrew B. Birge of the Western District of Michigan; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; and Vance Callender, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore B. Heinrich of Mendell’s Narcotics and Money Laundering Unit prosecuted the case.