New Bedford Man to Serve State Prison Time

FALL RIVER — A New Bedford man has been sentenced to serve six to eight years in state prison following a jury trial in Fall River Superior Court. Richard Ribeiro, 40, was convicted of trafficking 36 grams of heroin, unlawful possession of Percocets, and unlawful possession of Tramadol.

New Bedford Police say in February of 2016, detectives obtained a search warrant at 190 Davis street in New Bedford. Following the search, New Bedford Police had found a bag containing five individual plastic bags of heroin with a total weight of 37.27 grams. Police also found a grinder with 3 Percocet tabs in it; a prescription bottle with 64 tabs of Tramadol; a cutting agent; packaging materials including cut corner baggies; a digital scale with a 100-gram weight; and $1,370 believed to be from drug transactions. Police also recovered an additional $1,988 on Ribeiro's person.

Richard Ribeiro has a lengthy history of selling drugs on the SouthCoast and was convicted following a three-day jury trial.

District Attorney Tom Quinn stated, "I am very pleased with the jury's verdict convicting the defendant of drug trafficking. The defendant has made a career out of selling drugs and profiting off of other people's addiction and misery. The sentence was well deserved."