A Fall River man was sentenced to prison in marijuana conspiracy case
A former criminal defense attorney was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston Tuesday for his leading role in distributing more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana in the Fall River area, according to a statement from the United States Department of Justice.
Edward Boyer, 54, of Fall River, was sentenced to nine years in prison, four years of supervised release, and ordered to forfeit $250,000. He pleaded guilty in October to consipiring to distribute marijuana as well as money laundering, according to the statement.
Boyer was disbarred after a state court convicted him of interfering with a witness and bribery in 1997. In 2012, federal agents discovered that Boyer was shipping packages containing $20,000 to post office boxes in Mendocino, California, according to the statement. He was receiving large boxes from Mendocino as well.
In June 2013 and May 2014, federal agents used search warrants to seize packages sent to Boyer, which they said contained six to seven kilograms of marijuana. An investigation revealed that, between 2012 and 2014, suppliers in California shipped more than 1,500 kilograms of high-grade marijuana to Boyer, who then shipped more than $8 million to his suppliers in California, using bank accounts to transfer the funds, the statement says.
Boyer’s seven co-defendants, three of them from California, have also been convicted and await sentencing.
Boyer’s attorney was not immediately available to comment.
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