Three Massachusetts men indicted for selling black market cigarettes across New England
Three Massachusetts men have been indicted for selling black market cigarettes throughout New England, according to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
“These defendants were allegedly running a large-scale criminal operation that was transporting, selling, and distributing black market cigarettes across state lines for their own profit,” said Healey. “We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who evade the law and rob the state of much needed tax revenue.”
The cigarettes were sold in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, she said.
Pedro T. Perez, 54, Pedro Dejesus Perez Jr., 21, and Saturino Maldonado, 56, all of Holyoke, were indicted Thursday by a statewide grand jury on the charges of possession with intent to sell 12,000 or more unstamped cigarettes, possession of counterfeit stamps, tax evasion (concealment of items subject to tax) and conspiracy. Maldonado was also indicted with an additional charge of possession with intent to sell less than 12,000 unstamped cigarettes.
Perez regularly delivered black trash bags full of cartons and half cases of illegal, untaxed cigarettes to individuals and convenience stores, Healey said. He also allegedly sold them out of his home. Maldonado and Dejesus Perez assisted Perez with transporting and delivering the trash bags full of cigarettes, she said.
Perez would travel to New York to get cigarettes, picking them up with a U-Haul van and storing them at a facility in Chicopee, Healey said.
The cigarettes transported and sold by Perez either had no excise tax stamp or a counterfeit excise stamp, according to Healey. Excise stamps are required on all cigarettes sold in Massachusetts.
Police say they found more than 300,000 untaxed cigarettes when they used search warrants to go through the suspects’ homes and storage unit. Officers also found more than 1,764 cartons of untaxed cigarettes, $22,000 in cash, counterfeit excise stamps, and two cars used for the operation during their search of the suspects’ homes, the storage unit, and a Dorchester convenience store, Healey said.
The men will be arraigned in Hampden Superior Court at a later date.
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