Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Manchester Man Indicted for Fentanyl Trafficking and Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premises

             CONCORD – Michael Cicciu, 41, of Manchester was indicted by a federal grand jury on Monday and charged with one count of possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute and one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced today.

             According to the indictment, on September 3, 2020, Cicciu possessed a quantity of fentanyl with intent to distribute.  The indictment also alleges that between October 26, 2019, and September 3, 2020, Cicciu managed and controlled a property on High Street in Manchester and made the premises available for storing, distributing, and using controlled substances.

             Cicciu was arrested on state charges on September 3, 2020, and currently is being detained.

             The charges in the indictment are only allegations.  The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

             The case was investigated by the Manchester Police Department.

             This case is part of Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge (S.O.S.).  In July of 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of S.O.S., which is being implemented in the District of New Hampshire and nine other federal districts.  The goal of S.O.S. is to combat the large number of overdoses and deaths associated with fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.   In New Hampshire, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is focusing its efforts on prosecuting synthetic opioid trafficking cases arising in Hillsborough County, which includes Manchester and Nashua.

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