NORTH DAKOTA
A Rhode Island man was sentenced Thursday to 33 years in prison for his role in an international fentanyl distribution conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors.
District Court Judge Peter D. Welte sentenced Steven Barros Pinto, 40, of Rhode Island, in Fargo, North Dakota, officials stated.
According to federal prosecutors, Pinto was part of a Rhode Island organization that was distributing fentanyl and fentanyl analogs from Canada and China.
]After a five-week trial that began on June 8 in Fargo, the jury returned guilty verdicts against Pinto on various charges including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, money laundering conspiracy, continuing criminal enterprise, and obstruction of justice.
One of Pinto’s principal U.S.-based partners in this criminal conspiracy, Anthony Santos Gomes, 36, was sentenced to 30 years in prison on July 30.
This investigation started on Jan. 3, 2015, with the overdose death in Grand Forks, North Dakota, of Bailey Henke, and eventually led to the indictment, and subsequent conviction, of multiple defendants.
This included Daniel Vivas Ceron, 41, of Colombia, who pleaded guilty in July 2019 to continuing criminal enterprise, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and controlled substance analogs resulting in serious bodily injury and death, and money laundering.
In 2021, three Canadian nationals from Quebec, Canada, Jason Joey Berry, 38; Xuan Cahn Nguyen, 41; and Marie Um, 41, were extradited from Canada to the United States.
These defendants are detained and are currently awaiting trial scheduled on Oct. 4, 2022 in Fargo.
On Aug. 31, 2021, the U.S. Department of State offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of People’s Republic of China national Zhang Jian, aka Hong Kong Zaron, 42, a fugitive in this transnational investigation.
The case is part of “Operation Denial,” an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation into the international trafficking of fentanyl and fentanyl analogs and was significantly aided by the national and international coordination led by the multi-agency Special Operations Division.