A Texas man has pleaded guilty to charges involving a conspiracy to distribute oxycodone and structuring cash transactions to avoid financial scrutiny. Christan Russell, 33, of Tomball, Texas, admitted to his role in a scam that delivered oxycodone tablets throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, according to a federal court hearing in Boston. U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled the sentencing for February 5, 2025. Russell, along with five others charged by a federal grand jury in August 2023, consented to forfeit more than $860,000, four guns, and four bank accounts as part of his plea agreement, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
From February to July 2023, Russell gave oxycodone pills to Kenneth Veiga, who then provided them to Austin Gonsalves and John Campbell. The transaction peaked during Russell’s March visit to Boston, when he met with Veiga in a Rhode Island hotel to deliver the drugs. Following the transaction, Russell made a series of structured transfers totaling less than $10,000 apiece in order to avoid detection by the IRS.
In July 2024, Veiga entered a guilty plea and received a sentence of 60 months in jail, followed by three years of supervised relIn May 2024, Gonsalves also entered a guilty plea, receiving a sentence of 41 months in prison and three years of supervised release. ease. The scheduled date for Campbell’s sentence is January 15, 2025. According to the US Sentencing Guidelines and applicable statutes, the maximum punishment for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone is 20 years in prison, while the allegation of structuring transactions to dodge reporting requirements could add another five years.
Several law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Massachusetts State Police, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and others, assisted and coordinated the case against Russell and his co-conspirators. The operation is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) effort, which targets high-level criminal organizations that pose a threat to US national security. The public can learn more about the OCDETF by visiting its official website. It’s worth noting that the claims mentioned in the charging documents are only allegations. Until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, all defendants remain innocent.