Digging through a suspect’s trash produced evidence of a local maker of drugs who defrauded the U.S. government out of Covid help for a non-existent business, authorities said Thursday.
An affidavit presented by an officer from the Federal Bureau of Investigations has led to charges against the Cambridge man and an arrest.
In the 68-page document, a judge signed off on two counts of wire fraud and one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine against Schuyler Oppenheimer, 33, a “current and historical large-scale manufacturer and supplier of pressed pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine.” Oppenheimer has 11 previous charges outlined in the affidavit, including a conviction for possession to distribute a class B substance. Locally, Oppenheimer had three cases in Cambridge District Court dismissed between 2008 and 2010.
The involvement of the FBI’s North Shore Gang Task Force, which is based in the Boston field office, comes because Oppenheimer is believed to “historically have been a technician for other large-scale pill producers in Massachusetts,” according to affadavit, naming Vincent Caruso, aka “Fatz,” who was charged in 2021 and pleaded guilty and was sentenced for operating a large-scale drug trafficking organization specializing in the distribution of pressed fentanyl pills.
The affidavit is the result of a two-year investigation led by the Gang Task Force. With help from several other agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security, state police and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the task force searched multiple addresses associated with Oppenheimer, as well as his phone and a notebook containing information associated with his dealings.
The notebook, which was retrieved from a trash pull of Oppenheimer’s Everett residence in August 2022, included information about customers, drug manufacturing, suppliers and contact information for a Michael Sylvain at 6 Fountain Ave., East Somerville. Oppenheimer identified himself by name in texts with an individual he tried to order a tablet press machine from, in which he confirmed that he had previously ordered from the supplier under the name of Michael Sylvain, according to the affidavit – a conversation that connects Oppenheimer to multiple purchases made by “Sylvain,” largely consisting of parts for a tablet press and molds for different pill sizes.
One of the molds in particular, ordered Jan. 7, 2020, is identified as an “M30” mold. In 2022, trash disposed of by Oppenheimer included five counterfeit Percocet pills stamped with an “M” and a “30.” The affidavit states that “fentanyl pills are often marketed as Percocet in an attempt to mislead drug users into believing the product is safer and of a higher quality.”
Oppenheimer submitted two Payment Protection Program loan applications for a “clothing accessories store” in April 2021, the task force alleges as the source of the two counts of wire fraud. Both applications, which were approved approximately two weeks after submission and forgiven in March 2022, sought a loan of $20,833 for the purpose of “payroll costs.” Oppenheimer deposited $20,833 into his personal account at Cambridge Savings Bank on two occasions, in April and May 2021.
The most recent development in the case is also the most local: a raid on Wednesday at 36 Parker St., West Cambridge near the Radcliffe Quadrangle. In Oppenheimer’s bedroom, investigators after executing a search warrant, they discovered more than 5,000 grams worth of orange pills that tested positive for methamphetamine. Trash from Oppenheimer’s Everett home included similar orange pills, which also contained methamphetamine.
Oppenheimer was arrested after the signature of the affidavit by judge Paul G. Levenson and is in federal custody in Boston.
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This guy has been operating since 2008 – known to the police since he’s been 17 years old. How does he get away with it? Who are his protectors; his friends in high places? Sounds like human trafficker Darrell Graham allowed to operate for years whose mother was on the City Council. He also was allowed to destroy lives for decades.