Cocaine Trafficking Suspect Held Without Bail Following Drug Bust
David Creed •
Francisco Fernandez Sanchez, the 31-year-old man who was arrested following last Friday's drug bust on Youngs Way, will be held in custody without bail for up to 120 days in the Barnstable County Correctional Facility. The order to keep Sanchez behind bars before a trial came after Nantucket District Court Judge Paul Pino ruled in favor of the Cape & Island’s District Attorney’s office during a dangerousness hearing Monday morning.
"I find that the defendant is a danger," Pino said. “There are no conditions of release that can reasonably ensure the safety of the community at large. As a result, he will be held.”
Sanchez was arraigned on a Feb. 7th charge of trafficking cocaine in the amount of 200 grams or more and had not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf. A probable cause hearing was scheduled for March 17th.
According to assistant district attorney Shaunna Souve, the drug bust was the result of an investigation led by the Nantucket Police Department’s detective division that began in October of 2024. The investigation also involved a confidential informant and collaboration with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Souve said there were four controlled buys between Sanchez and the confidential informant, including one that took place as recently as one week ago. According to the search warrant findings retrieved by the Current, the first buy took place in late October while Sanchez was living at his former residence, 5 Marble Way.
“Not only were two (kilograms) of cocaine found, but they also found packaging material, they found scales, also small amounts of user materials, a crack pipe and a spoon,” Souve said of what was discovered at 15 Youngs Way, where police executed a search warrant last Friday afternoon and arrested Sanchez. “They did find clear plastic bags, dryer sheets, calibration tools, rolled up dollar bills. They also found approximately $700 in various denominations within this defendant’s possession, a passport belonging to this defendant. They also did a field test of the small amounts of material and confirmed the substance to be cocaine.”
Souve said that Sanchez waived his Miranda Rights and spoke with NPD detectives. He allegedly told them that he is a distributor of cocaine and that he and other friends came from Martha’s Vineyard.
"After leaving Martha's Vineyard, they go up to Lawrence (Mass.) where he makes this purchase without even providing money," Souve said. "He states that the money was fronted, and he leaves with kilos of cocaine and returns back to Nantucket with the intention of selling it. He does state in his drug dealing activities it can be up to about 10 ounces per week."
"The concern here is the extreme large amount of cocaine this defendant possesses, not only in his residence, but also in his vehicle,” Souve continued. “You have the fact that these connections, not just on Nantucket and providing sales locally, but he also has connections up in eastern Massachusetts. So it seems to be part of a grander scheme, especially with the capability to get that significant amount of cocaine so easily. I think the fact that he owes money is something to consider. The fact that there is significant pressure to sell and deliver and supply. He appears to be a major local supplier to the island, perhaps even to the Vineyard."
Sanchez faces a minimum sentence of 12 years in state prison on the trafficking charge after the drug raid led to the discovery of approximately 2,574 grams of cocaine (5.67 pounds) inside the residence. According to the Nantucket Police Department, the estimated street value of the cocaine confiscated is $257,400. It is believed to be the largest seizure of cocaine in island history.
Sanchez’s attorney, Patrick Callahan, appeared via Zoom and asked Pino not to hold his client on dangerousness because he has no criminal record, there were no allegations of violence in any of the reports, and there weren’t any weapons found at the Youngs Way residence.
"He was extremely cooperative with police when they arrived," Callahan said. "He went back to the station and gave a full statement to the police, certainly to his detriment. But this is a gentleman who I would not qualify as a danger in the community.”
Callahan said Sanchez is a veteran of his home country’s military and that Sanchez had been approved and was going through the process of joining the United States military before he “went in a different direction” and began to work in property management.
Callahan said Sanchez has been in and out of the United States since he was a baby. He first came to the country in 1995 and has been living permanently in the United States since 2018. His immigration status was not disclosed during the hearing.
After the Current retrieved the returns from the search warrant Tuesday afternoon, the findings revealed a Dominican Republic Passport, a US social security card, and a permanent resident card amongst many other items. The search warrant was authorized by Nantucket District Court Judge James Sullivan.
According to NPD detective James Olson, the police ran Sanchez's driver's license number through the Registry of Motor Vehicles and it came up as "No Status Found On Record." However, the RMV did have a photo of Sanchez on file, which the police used to verify his identity to the confidential informant. He also had a red/maroon 2022 Jeep Wrangler registered to him.
The Current attempted to speak to Callahan over the phone, but he declined to comment on the case.