Repeat New Bedford Drug Trafficker Sentenced to Prison
Bristol County District Attorney’s Office
Thomas M. Quinn III
District Attorney
Press Release
April 8, 2019
A 40-year-old New Bedford man who has a lengthy history of dealing drugs in the SouthCoast was sentenced to serve six to eight years in state prison last week after being convicted of trafficking large quantities of heroin, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
After a three-day jury trial in Fall River Superior Court, a jury of his peers last week convicted Richard Ribeiro of trafficking in excess of 36 grams of heroin, unlawful possession of Percocets, and unlawful possession of Tramadol.
On February 25, 2016, Detective Sasha Vicente of the New Bedford Police Department’s Organized Crime Intelligence Bureau completed an investigation into a heroin distribution service and obtained a lawful Search Warrant for 190 Davis Street Apt 2N located in the City of New Bedford. As detectives were arriving at 190 Davis Street, in preparation to make entry into the apartment, the defendant was observed leaving his residence and walking in a westerly direction on Davis Street. The defendant was approached and secured by detectives. A search of the apartment, specifically the defendant’s bedroom, was conducted and police recovered a bag containing five individual plastic bags of heroin with a total weight of 37.27 grams; a grinder with 3 Percocet tabs in it; a prescription bottle w/ 64 tabs of Tramadol; a cutting agent; packaging materials including cut corner baggies, a digital scale w/ a 100 gram weight, and $1,370.00 in US Currency believed to be drug proceeds. From the person of the defendant, police also recovered $1,988, and keys to the apartment.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Steve Butts and the state prison sentence was imposed by Judge Joseph Leighton. In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Leighton also placed the defendant on probation for one additional year after his eventual release.
“I am very pleased with the jury’s verdict convicting the defendant of drug trafficking. The defendant has made a career out of selling drugs and profiting off of other people’s addiction and misery. The sentence was well deserved,” District Attorney Quinn said.
Contact:
Gregg Miliote
Director of Communications
508-997-0711
774-292-9576–cell