Fall River Man Who Trafficked Heroin in Fall River and New Bedford Sentenced to Prison

Bristol County District Attorney’s Office 

Thomas M. Quinn III 

District Attorney

Press Release 

September 19, 2017​​​​

A 31-year-old Fall River man who was trafficking large quantities of heroin in both Fall River and New Bedford was sentenced to serve six to eight years in state prison last week, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Samuel Rodriguez pleaded guilty last Friday in Fall River Superior Court to a a single-count indictment charging him with trafficking in heroin.

In September of 2015, New Bedford Police began an investigation into the defendant and a possible drug delivery service in which the defendant was involved.  The defendant lived at 998 Middle Street in Fall River, but detectives observed him travel between New Bedford and Fall River on numerous occasions to make apparent  drug transactions.  

On October 27, 2015, New Bedford Police detectives, with assistance from the Fall River Police Vice Unit, executed the search warrant at the Middle Street address.  The defendant was present at the time of the execution of the search warrant, and notified police that there was heroin in his closet.  Police located large pucks of heroin (approximately 300 grams), $2,873 in cash, and narcotics packaging materials.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Steve Butts ad the state prison sentence was handed down by Judge Karen Green.

“This defendant is contributing the the ongoing drug problem in our communities by possessing and selling large amounts of heroin. He needed to be held accountable for profiting from drug addiction in our county,” District Attorney Quinn said. “I would also like to applaud Fall River Police and New Bedford Police for working cooperatively in this case to help stymie the flow of opiates into the SouthCoast region.”

Contact:

Gregg Miliote

Director of Communications

508-997-0711

774-292-9576–cell