NH: Drug conviction dumps man into Concord prison for "20 years to life"

Shire Media
#1

https://www.doj.nh.gov/news/2023/20231106-santiago-fentanyl-sentence.htm

Skip to Main Content
NH Department of Justice - Official State of NH website
Smaller text size Reset text size Larger text size
link to website language translation page
New HampshireDepartment of JusticeOffice of the Attorney General
Home Resources

News & Media

Public Documents

Contact by Division
law books in a bookcase

News Release

For Immediate Release
November 6, 2023

Contact:
Michael S. Garrity, Director of Communications
michael.s.garrity@doj.nh.gov | (603) 931-9375

Fentanyl Offender Receives 20 Years to Life Sentence in State Prison

Concord, NH – Attorney General John M. Formella announces that John Santiago a.k.a. Freddy Muniz, age 46, has been sentenced for his conviction of (i) conspiracy to sell fentanyl; and (ii) possession with intent to sell approximately half a kilo of fentanyl. Mr. Santiago was found guilty after a jury trial in September of 2023.

The Hillsborough County Superior Court sentenced Mr. Santiago to a stand-committed sentence of 20 years to life on the charge of conspiracy to sell fentanyl and 20 years to life, suspended for 20 years, on the charge of possession with intent to sell approximately half a kilo of fentanyl.

“Fentanyl represents an urgent threat to New Hampshire, and we remain dedicated to confronting the fentanyl crisis head on throughout the Granite State,” said Attorney General Formella. “This case involved 473 grams of fentanyl, which is enough to kill nearly 250,000 people. The significant sentence imposed by the Court reflects the seriousness of the charges, and we expect it will send a strong message to others who would commit similar offenses. I would like to thank our trial team, our investigators, and all of our law enforcement partners for their dedication and excellent work on this case.”

This case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Nicholas Chong Yen and Audriana Mekula and with assistance from our law enforcement partners, including members of the New Hampshire Department of Corrections, Manchester Police Department, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

New Hampshire Department of Justice
1 Granite Place South | Concord, NH | 03301
Telephone: 603-271-3658
NH.gov | privacy policy | accessibility policy | webmaster
copyright . State of New Hampshire

#2

The sad thing is that putting him in prison isn’t going to stop others
from selling, to the same people, and it’s going to increase the cost
of keeping another person in prison for that long.
It’s an example of something that does more harm than good for the state,
but which the state will continue doing because they believe that they are
doing something good.

#3

The government continues to put lowlifes in charge of drug production and safety.

#4

The absurdity of the claim too … like- are people really suppose to believe that 250,000 would have died if not for this arrest??? That’s 20% of the population of New Hampshire. That’s bat shit insane considering there are only 156,000 people in New Hampshire that have even taken an illicit substance recently. While I’m not someone who takes any drugs regularly legally or otherwise it’s disgusting how easily manipulated people are. The “threat” to the degree it exists is mostly from the over-prescription of certain drugs or really more so that doctors and pharmacists weren’t doing a good job informing people of the addictive nature of the drug which led to over-use and addiction. When the drug is no longer available people were addicted and forced onto riskier illicit substances like heroin and fentanyl and fentanyl isn’t even what people necessarily want to be taking. It’s just the thing that is easiest to get into the US because it’s so concentrated and what makes it dangerous is mostly that it’s not being properly de-concentrated because it’s illegal. Being illegal the fine machinery needed to de-concentrate it into safer doses isn’t available or being used. This forces drug dealers to use their hands which is risky as it leads to people getting unknown quantities and when they’re too high or by consequence of not knowing people take too much it’s leading to users deaths. It’s not the fault of drug dealers, but the state’s criminalization of selling, possessing, using, etc.

If the state really cared they’d be eliminating prescriptions and instead educating people about the dangers of oxycodone and similar drugs before dispensing the drugs to those in need. If decriminalized the currently illcit substances wouldn’t pose the significant risk of death that they currently do because the drugs wouldn’t be concentrated and de-concentrated using unsafe methods. That would no longer make economic sense to either the dealer nor the user. It’s not like this situation is happening by accident. It’s happening because of stupid egregious no nothing state reps that don’t give two shits about other people.

1 Like