Convicted Felon on Probation Sentenced on Drug Trafficking and Firearm Charges

PROVIDENCE –  A Providence man arrested by members of the FBI Safe Street Task Force on federal drug trafficking and firearm charges while he was serving a term of state probation for illegally possessing a firearm in an unrelated matter has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

During a series of wide-ranging Project Safe Neighborhoods drug trafficking investigations, members of the Safe Street Task Force (SSTF) developed information that Carlos Jojamis Gonzalez Nevarez, 26, was trafficking heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl, all while he was using the residence of another person as a stash house.

According to information presented to the court, beginning in September  2019, SSTF agents and officers arranged for what would be the first in a series of five controlled purchases of narcotics from Gonzalez Nevarez. The transactions occurred while Gonzalez Nevarez was under surveillance by law enforcement. In total, Gonzalez Nevarez sold approximately 111 grams of a mixture or substance containing fentanyl and 50 grams of cocaine.

On November 19, 2019, members of the SSFT executed a court-authorized search of Gonzalez Nevarez’s home and the stash house he maintained on Douglas Avenue, the home of his friend, also arrested in this operation, Richard Rivera Disla.  The FBI seized a loaded .45 caliber pistol, and $2,056 in cash from Gonzalez Nevarez’s home and 520.80 grams of fentanyl and 12.58 grams of cocaine from the stash house.

According to a plea agreement filed with the court, Rivera Disla has agreed to plead guilty to possession with intent to distribute a substance containing fentanyl.

Gonzalez Nevarez appeared before U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., on October 7, 2020, and pled guilty to one count of distribution of cocaine, four counts of distribution of fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, and felon in possession of a firearm.

Gonzalez Nevarez was sentenced on February 11, 2021, to 120 months in federal prison to be followed by five years federal supervised release, announced United States Attorney Aaron L. Weisman and Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division Joseph R. Bonavolonta.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Stacey P. Veroni and Gerard B. Sullivan.

Project Safe Neighborhoods is a federal, state, and local law enforcement collaboration to identify, investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for violent crimes in our neighborhoods. Project Safe Neighborhoods has been historically successful in bringing together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.

The FBI Safe Streets Task Force consists of agents and law enforcement officers from the FBI, Rhode Island State Police, the Providence, Cranston, Woonsocket, Pawtucket, West Warwick, and Central Falls Police Departments, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

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