New Bedford Heroin Dealer With Illegal Firearm Sentenced to Prison

Bristol County District Attorney’s Office
Thomas M. Quinn III
District Attorney

Press Release
March 21, 2016

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn announced today that a 31-year-old New Bedford heroin dealer will serve up to six-and-a-half years in state prison after being convicted of drug and gun-related offenses in Fall River Superior Court last week.

Duran Ferreira pleaded guilty last week to charges of possessing an illegal firearm, possessing ammunition without an FID card, distribution of heroin and distribution of cocaine.

Mr. Ferreira, who has been wanted by New Bedford Police for an outstanding default warrant, was arrested in Fall River on August 28 2014. The defendant was a passenger in a car that was stopped for a traffic violation in Fall River, and was then apprehended due to the outstanding warrant. At the time of his arrest, the defendant had several hundred small bags of heroin on his person. A bag of cocaine, packaged for street sale, was also found on his person.

The defendant was brought back to New Bedford where a search warrant was executed at his residence, located at 31 Cottage Street. Inside the residence, New Bedford Police found numerous items associated with the drug distribution trade and a safe, which contained $20,000 in cash. In a crawl space above the apartment, police also found a loaded revolver.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Patrick Driscoll and the sentence was handed down by Superior Court Judge Gregg Pasquale.

“I am pleased that this drug dealer has been taken off the streets with a significant sentence,” said District Attorney Quinn. “This defendant has made a large amount of money preying on the addiction of people in the Greater New Bedford-Fall River region.”
Contact:
Gregg Miliote
Director of Communications
508-997-0711
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