FARMINGTON — A U.S. District Court judge scheduled a June 25 sentencing hearing in Portland for a Wilton man who pleaded guilty Monday to a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute 40 or more grams of fentanyl, according to U.S. District Court documents.

Dennis Ayala, 55, faces between five and 40 years in federal prison.

Ayala’s daughter, Andrea Hoffman, 35, also of Wilton, pleaded guilty to the same charge Feb. 6. She is scheduled to be sentenced May 29.

Ayala and Hoffman are two of four co-defendants arrested last year in the case. They are accused of conspiring with others to distribute and possess with intent to distribute, the highly addictive opioid fentanyl in Maine beginning from at least March 2018.

According to the federal prosecution’s case against Ayala, on May 22, 2018, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration received information that Ayala was arranging the purchase of fentanyl from Massachusetts to Maine.

The DEA coordinated a traffic stop of an acquaintance of Ayala’s by Maine State Police on Interstate 95 in Maine. The driver was the sole occupant of the vehicle. A search of the vehicle produced two plastic baggies that were determined by a chemist to be 196.9 grams of fentanyl, according to U.S. District Court documents.

Ayala intended to distribute a portion of the fentanyl that law enforcement seized during the traffic stop, according to officials.

Investigators arrested Ayala on May 22 and the following morning, not realizing that law enforcement had seized the fentanyl, Ayala contacted Hoffman and asked her to retrieve the fentanyl from his associate, according to the court document.

Hoffman “then engaged in a series of text message communications with the associate in an effort to recover the fentanyl,” according to the prosecution version.

Ayala also faces Maine opioid drug charges.

Co-defendants Alberto “Papa” Luis Cruz, believed to be 32 when arrested in November, and Patricia “Mama” Pimentel, 24, who was arrested in August 2018, both of Lawrence, Massachusetts, have not resolved their cases. Each faces a charge of conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing the opioid fentanyl, according to U.S. District Court documents.

Pimentel also is charged on a federal count of possession with the intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and aided and abetted such conduct last May. A similar charge was dismissed against Ayala.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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