BOSTON — Prosecutors say a former worker at UPS Inc. has admitted in federal court to his role in a drug trafficking organization that shipped cocaine from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts.
Jorge Carrasquillo-Ortiz, 41, of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, pleaded guilty in Boston this week to attempted distribution of 500 grams of cocaine. He faces up to four decades in prison and a $5 million fine when he’s sentenced in April.
Prosecutors say Carrasquillo-Ortiz received $1,200 for each kilogram of cocaine that he shipped.
A cooperating witness in June 2016 arranged to have a shipment of fake cocaine delivered to Carrasquillo-Ortiz in Puerto Rico.
Authorities say he slipped the package through UPS security. It was then loaded onto a UPS plane and sent to Massachusetts.
BOSTON — An explosive device with a propane tank blew up near a police cruiser Friday in what appears to be a deliberate act, police said.
Police Commissioner William Evans said the explosion in South Boston during the morning rush hour set the cruiser on fire. No one was hurt.
He said the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force has been called in to help with the investigation and called the incident “troubling.”
Evans said the propane tank was positioned between the decking for a bridge and the passenger side of the parked cruiser.
He said police are studying surveillance videos from the area. “We are going to find out who is responsible,” Evans said. “We will get to the bottom of this.”
The Boston division of the FBI said it is assisting police in the investigation. “We are postured to provide any resources that are needed and we are working closely with the Boston Police Department in identifying who is responsible,” the FBI said in a statement.
PITTSFIELD — A Massachusetts woman who beat her infant son so severely that he still has medical problems a year after the assault has been sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
Tonia O’Brien, 19, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to charges including aggravated assault and battery on a child.
Prosecutors say when emergency personnel responded to O’Brien’s Hinsdale home on Dec. 31, 2015, the 2-month-old boy was not breathing and had bruises on his face and chest.
They say the woman shook, hit and threw the boy.
The boy is paralyzed on his right side, may be deaf, blind or both and may be susceptible to neurological illnesses due to a severe skull injury. O’Brien’s attorney said his client wanted to take responsibility.
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Police say a woman who pleaded guilty to giving a 17-year-old girl a lethal dose of fentanyl at a New Hampshire motel has been arrested on a warrant in an unrelated drug investigation in which she overdosed.
Leslie Aberle, of Salisbury, Mass., awaits sentencing Jan. 26 in federal court in the 2015 death of Evangelique “Eve” Tarmey in Rochester. Tarmey’s mother and her mother’s boyfriend have been sentenced to prison.
Prosecutors said Aberle drove them to Massachusetts to buy heroin, which later was found to be fentanyl.
Police say the 32-year-old Aberle was arrested Jan. 10 at the Strafford County Jail. The case dates back to June 2015, when Aberle was found unconscious in a car. She was taken to a hospital. Police found pipes, baggies with residue and other items needles inside the car.
From Associated Press