SOUTHBRIDGE — A former Southbridge man was sentenced in federal court in Worcester on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, for conspiring to distribute cocaine in Central Massachusetts.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Luis Sastre Pagan, 37, of Puerto Rico and formerly of Southbridge, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman to eight years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
In June, Sastre Pagan pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. He was charged in November 2024 along with co-conspirators Eric Rivera and Miguel Lopez.
Federal prosecutors allege that from approximately April 2023 to April 2024, Sastre Pagan participated in a conspiracy that shipped kilogram quantities of cocaine into Central Massachusetts from Puerto Rico.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts reported that evidence showed that Sastre Pagan was in communication with co-conspirators before and after the drug deliveries and that Sastre Pagan was directing the activity of his co-conspirators as to the activity of the drug trafficking organization in and around Southbridge and Worcester.
During the investigation, authorities seized four packages containing cocaine. Between 15 and 50 kilograms of cocaine were attributable to Sastre Pagan as part of his participation in the conspiracy, according to federal prosecutors.
Rivera pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine in August 2025 and, in November 2025, he was sentenced to five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Lopez was sentenced in April to six years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kaitlin Brown of the Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.
