A  45-year-old New Bedford man was convicted by a jury of his peers and sentenced to state prison last Friday in Fall River Superior Court of trafficking fentanyl and distributing crack-cocaine, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Carlos Lacen-Santiago was sentenced by Judge Renee Dupuis to serve five to seven-and-a-half years in state prison.  

On July 31, 2021, New Bedford Police Narcotics Detectives were in possession of a search warrant for a black Honda Accord that was being used as a hub for drug distribution by the defendant.  While conducting surveillance on the vehicle, police observed the defendant approach the vehicle while on his cell phone.  Shortly thereafter, another man also approached the vehicle.  The defendant unlocked the car door and got inside while the other man leaned in, took something in his hand and put it in his pocket.  The other man was stopped a short distance from the car and was found to have a bag of fentanyl in his pocket. 

The defendant was then also approached and detained while police executed the search warrant on the vehicle, where they found an additional 14 grams of fentanyl, two corner bags of crack-cocaine, four digital scales, nearly $1,000 in cash and other materials used for drug distribution.

The two-day jury trial was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Catherine Sauter and Gillian Kirsch. 

At the time of his arrest, the defendant had two prior drug convictions. One was for possession with intent to distribute heroin in 2012 and the other was for trafficking heroin in 2016. In the first case, the defendant served a county jail sentence and in the second case he served a state prison sentence.