Source: United States Attorneys General
Headline: Winchester Man Sentenced to 8.5 Years in Federal Prison for Conspiring to Distribute Over a Kilogram of Heroin
CONCORD, N.H. –Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced today that Ross Gould, 30, formerly of Winchester, New Hampshire was sentenced to 8.5 years in federal prison for participating in a heroin trafficking conspiracy.
Court documents and statements in court showed that beginning in 2011 and continuing through mid-March 2015, Gould distributed quantities of heroin throughout the Keene, New Hampshire, area. Investigators determined that Gould initially sold gram quantities of heroin, but later started selling larger quantities of heroin to individuals in Keene and the surrounding towns. From mid-2014 through Gould’s arrest in March of 2015, Gould’s drug trafficking increased substantially. He obtained approximately two kilograms of heroin every four or five weeks from a heroin source in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Gould used a drug courier to obtain the heroin from the source and transport the drugs back to the Keene area where the drugs were distributed by Gould and other drug couriers.
After the lengthy investigation, Gould was arrested in March, 2015. A search of Gould’s Winchester residence resulted in the seizure of approximately five grams of heroin, $11,000 cash and 14 firearms. A subsequent search of a safe that Gould kept at another residence resulted in the seizure of 1.7 kilograms of heroin, 392 grams of cocaine and a small quantity of miscellaneous pills.
Gould pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute over one kilogram of heroin on October 5, 2017. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Gould consented to liquidate personal property purchased with drug proceeds that resulted in the forfeiture by the United States of approximately $ 28,000. Gould also forfeited to the United States 14 firearms that he purchased with drug proceeds. The United States previously forfeited the $11,000 cash seized from Gould’s residence.
Three of Gould’s drug couriers have been sentenced to federal prison as a result of their participation in this drug trafficking organization. Jamie Hilow, 29, formerly of Winchester, is serving an 11-year prison sentence. Hilow’s wife, Jaclyn Hilow, 31, also formerly of Winchester, is serving a 10-year prison sentence. Jason Daigle, 40, formerly of Nelson, is serving an eight-year prison sentence.
Two of Gould’s sources from Lawrence also have been convicted on drug trafficking charges. Jonathan Cruz-Marte, 34, was sentenced to 55 months in prison and Felix Portes, 56, was sentenced to 57 months in prison.
“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to working with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to target individuals who are distributing illegal drugs in New Hampshire,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Farley. “While those who suffer from addiction need access to treatment, those who seek to profit from the distribution of heroin and other deadly drugs will be prosecuted aggressively. I commend the work of the law enforcement officers who worked together during this long-term investigation to disrupt and dismantle a major drug trafficking organization that was responsible for the distribution of large quantities of heroin in the Keene area.”
The investigation was conducted by the: (1) Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; (2) New Hampshire Attorney General’s Drug Task Force; (3) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; (4) New Hampshire State Police; (5) Keene, New Hampshire Police Department; (6) Richmond, New Hampshire Police Department; and (7) Salem, New Hampshire Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Cole Davis prosecuted the case.
This case was supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF). The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.
###