Man pleads guilty to mailing cocaine from Puerto Rico for NH distribution

CONCORD - A man from Puerto Rico, formerly living in Manchester, pleaded guilty on Wednesday for leading a conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Lewistone Baez Miranda, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, cocaine. Baez Miranda is the third of six defendants charged in this conspiracy to plead guilty.

According to the plea agreement and statements made in court, the defendant was the leader of a drug trafficking organization that shipped cocaine from Puerto Rico to Manchester. The defendant's son, based in Puerto Rico, used fictitious information to send packages of cocaine through the United States Postal Service to Manchester at the direction of the defendant. The cocaine was often packaged in 500-gram or 1,000-gram bundles and hidden inside children's games.

The defendant employed co-conspirators to retrieve the packages of cocaine for him in Manchester. The defendant also sent suspected drug proceeds to his son in Puerto Rico, in one instance sending him a parcel containing $11,000. Between September 2020 and December 2021, according to a release sent from the U.S. Attorneys Office. The defendant's drug trafficking organization shipped over 5.6 kilograms of cocaine from Puerto Rico to Manchester for redistribution.

The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, at least three (3) years of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $1,000,000.

Sentencing is set for May 7.