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Press Release

Two Sentenced for Crack Distribution and Firearms Offenses

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Hampshire

          Concord, N.H.John J. Farley, Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire, announced that Victor Alvarado, 29, was sentenced to 64 months in prison and Brandin Melendez, 33, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for conspiring to distribute cocaine base, or “crack,” in Manchester in 2016 and for firearms crimes.

          According to court documents and statements made at the sentencing hearing, on several occasions in July and August 2016, Alvarado and Melendez sold crack cocaine to an individual working with investigators. On each occasion, Alvarado would arrange the deals and provide the narcotics while Melendez would take the payment. On August 30, 2016, Alvarado and Melendez also sold the same individual a sawed off shotgun.

          In December 2016, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Alvarado and Melendez and investigators obtained search warrants to search their residences. At Alvarado’s residence, investigators recovered three firearms, including a stolen AR-15 model weapon with a high capacity, 30-round magazine.

          In April 2017, Alvarado and Melendez each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. Alvarado, who was a previously convicted felon, also pleaded guilty to the illegal possession of a firearm.

          In addition to their prison sentences, Alvarado and Melendez were ordered to serve three years of supervised release when they are released from custody.

          This case was investigated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Gang Task Force. The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations. Other and state and local authorities involved in the investigation included the Manchester Police Department, the Hudson Police Department, the New Hampshire State Police, the Nashua Police Department, and the New Hampshire Department of Corrections Probation and Parole. Investigators also received the invaluable assistance of DEA-NH/HIDTA. Assistance was also provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles L. Rombeau.

 

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Updated August 11, 2017

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Project Safe Neighborhoods