PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Massachusetts man who was the first person charged under a Rhode Island law that provides for stiff punishments for people who sell illicit drugs that result in death will spend 18 years in prison, prosecutors said Monday.
Cary Pacheco, 57, of Westport, Massachusetts, was sentenced last week after pleading no contest to selling the fentanyl that resulted in the death of Andrew Paiva in Newport in 2018, according to a statement from the office of Attorney General Peter Neronha.
Pacheco was sentenced to 35 years in prison with 18 to serve and the balance suspended with probation.
Pacheco, who had a history of drug offenses and arrests, on Sept. 10, 2018 sold fentanyl to a third party who then delivered the fentanyl to Paiva, which resulted in his overdose death, authorities said.
Pacheco was charged under Kristen’s Law, a 2018 law that establishes a penalty of up to life in prison for anyone who delivers a controlled substance that results in death. The law is named after Kristen Coutu, a Cranston woman who died in 2014 after taking fentanyl.
The attorney general’s office said in 2018 that Pacheco was the first person charged under the law.
