Springfield Man Sentenced to 15 Years on Drug Charges

BOSTON—A Springfield man was sentenced late yesterday in federal court for distribution of cocaine.

James Melvin, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 15 years in prison to be followed by six years of supervised release. In December 2011, Melvin was convicted by a jury of possession with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base.

In February 2010, Melvin, working with another individual, arranged to sell approximately 12 grams of crack cocaine to a cooperating witness. Melvin told the cooperating witness to meet him at a package store in Springfield where he exchanged the crack cocaine for $500 in FBI “buy money.”

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Richard DesLauriers, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Mark Mastroianni, Hampden County district attorney; Colonel Marian J. McGovern, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Commissioner William Fitchet of the Springfield Police Department; and Michael J. Ashe, Jr., Hampden County Sheriff made the announcement.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force, consisting of law enforcement personnel from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Massachusetts State Police, the Springfield Police Department, and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office. The FBI’s Gang Task Force is assisted by the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Ortiz’s Springfield Office.