Holyoke Man Sentenced For Selling Cocaine

BOSTON - A Holyoke man was sentenced on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, in federal court in Springfield for selling cocaine.

Carlos Maldonado, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to 30 months in prison and six years of supervised release. In October 2018, Maldonado pleaded guilty to one count of distribution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Maldonado was arrested in September 2016 and has been in federal custody since.

“The government asked for a sentence of 216 months for this career offender,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. “Maldonado has previously served seven years in prison for assault with intent to murder and has a prior federal conviction for drug dealing – the crime he was sentenced for Wednesday. We respectfully disagree with the Court’s sentence of 30 months.”

On July 15, 2016, Maldonado distributed cocaine to a government witness in Holyoke. This was Maldonado’s second federal narcotics-related conviction, as he was convicted in 2015 in federal court in Springfield for possessing heroin with the intent to distribute and was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Maldonado had been released from a residential re-entry center in May 2016, only two months prior to the time of committing the offense for which he was sentenced on Wednesday.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Acting Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood; and Holyoke Police Chief Manny Febo made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil L. Desroches of Lelling’s Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.