By Journal Staff
A Revere man was sentenced in federal court in Boston last week for cocaine related offenses. Francisco Restrepo Mesa, 55, was sentenced on July 10 by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 68 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.
In April, Restrepo pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine, one count of possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. In March 2023, a co-conspirator retrieved two kilograms of cocaine from Restrepo inside a Revere apartment he maintained as a drug stash location. A search was executed at Restrepo’s stash apartment, yielding 15.5 kilograms of cocaine and $190,750, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Following his arrest, Restrepo told his wife during recorded jail calls that authorities had missed some of the drugs during their search, according to law enforcement officials. A second search warrant was executed at the Revere stash apartment and an additional 1.6 kilograms of cocaine was recovered from a hidden compartment inside the bathroom wall. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency, New England Field Division; and John E. Mawn, Jr., Interim Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Ferguson, Deputy Chief of the Narcotics & Money Laundering Unit and OCDETF Lead Task Force Attorney, prosecuted the case. This effort is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
