Providence man pleads guilty to shipping fentanyl to Australia

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Providence man pleaded guilty Thursday for trying to ship fentanyl from the United States to Australia on several occasions.

Felix Suarez, 25, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute fentanyl, two counts of attempt to distribute a controlled substance, unlawful export of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a communication facility to facilitate the distribution of a controlled substance.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized an outbound package addressed to Sydney, Australia on December 30, 2022.

Suarez’s address was listed as the return address and the package was declared to contain “DOCUMENTS.”

The package was found to contain approximately 37 grams of fentanyl.

A second package was seized by Australian Federal Police on January 17, 2023 addressed to the same recipient in Sydney, also with Suarez’s address listed as the return address.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) was notified of the package, this time declared to contain “DOCUMENTS/INVOICES,” and it was found to contain approximately 25 grams of fentanyl.

HSI investigated further and was able to obtain surveillance footage from a UPS Store in Providence showing Suarez obtaining a brown envelope, returning to his vehicle and returning to the store to mail it.

This envelope matched the description of the envelope obtained by Australian law enforcement.

Import records show that Suarez shipped 67 packages to the same recipient in Sydney from January 2020 to January 2023.

Suarez will be sentenced on August 1.