Lawrence Man Pleads Guilty in Counterfeit Pill Operation: Pill Press and Kilograms of Fake Adderall and Percocet Seized in Methuen Apartment
Jose Vasquez Lantigua, 48, of Lawrence, in Essex County, Massachusetts, has pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to his role in a drug trafficking organization that manufactured counterfeit prescription pills inside an apartment. The U.S. Attorney's Office announced on October 30 that investigators recovered an automated pill press, multiple kilograms of counterfeit Adderall and Percocet pills believed to contain fentanyl and methamphetamine, and over two kilograms of suspected controlled substances.
According to the charging documents, Lantigua and the La Culebra drug trafficking organization controlled a large drug manufacturing location inside an apartment in Methuen, where a controlled purchase of drugs was made from Joshua Morales, a drug runner associated with the organization. During a search of the apartment, investigators observed fresh footprints in powders believed to be controlled substances. The footprints led down an interior staircase to a second-floor apartment, where Lantigua and co-conspirator Manuel Santana-Soto were encountered wearing flip flops with soles that matched the powdered footprints.
The listed tenant of the second-floor apartment later told law enforcement that Lantigua and Santana-Soto did not have permission to be in her apartment and did not have a key. Prosecutors believe the two fled the third-floor unit and broke into the second-floor unit before officers made entry. In the third-floor apartment, investigators also found numerous implements used in pill manufacturing, including cutting agents, blenders, scales, bowls, and bags full of suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine powders and binding agents.
Lantigua was arrested and charged in August 2025 along with Santana-Soto. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute and manufacture controlled substances. U.S. Senior District Court Judge Patti B. Saris scheduled sentencing for January 28, 2027. The charge carries a sentence of at least 10 years and up to life in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $10 million; sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Santana-Soto pleaded guilty in May 2026 and is scheduled to be sentenced on December 8, 2026. Morales pleaded guilty in March 2026 and is scheduled to be sentenced on November 10, 2026. Aris Arvelo Gonzalez, another member of La Culebra, was charged in November 2025 following a series of controlled purchases and the identification of another manufacturing location; he pleaded guilty in September 2026 and is scheduled to be sentenced on January 13, 2027.
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; Jarod A. Forget, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England; and Colonel Geoffrey D. Noble, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement, with valuable assistance provided by the Essex County District Attorney's Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip A. Mallard of the Organized Crime & Gang Unit is prosecuting the case.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Washington 的美国司法部大楼。GSM联邦机构固定图库照片，摄影 APK，CC BY 4.0，来源 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington. GSM federal fixed image library photo by APK, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
