A Brockton woman, Robyn Costa, has been handed down a sentence of over eight years in prison for her part in a drug trafficking operation that also involved firearm offenses, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. Costa, 39, was involved with a nationwide drug trafficking ring and was sentenced to 102 months in federal court in Boston, following which she will have three years of supervised release.

Following her November 2022 guilty plea to charges that include conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, Costa's sentencing brings a measure of closure to the case that started unfolding in late 2020 when federal investigators zeroed in on a Boston-area methamphetamine supplier named Reshat Alkayisi, who was identified as distributing large quantities of meth across New England, Costa was one of Alkayisi’s distributors, and in April 2021. Costa received approximately five pounds of pure methamphetamine from Alkayisi which led to her arrest and the seizure of the drugs and a loaded firearm from her vehicle.

The investigation which led to Costa's apprehension also resulted in the confiscation of over 160 pounds of pure methamphetamine, ranging across an assortment of weaponry including a Glock without a serial number, two loaded Smith & Wesson handguns, and over 4,200 rounds of ammunition, as well as an AK-47, and authorities dismantled an illegal marijuana grow operation featuring hundreds of marijuana plants. Costa is the second defendant to be sentenced in this extensive operation, with the remaining defendants having pleaded guilty and awaiting their own sentencings.

The joint efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, local police forces, the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and state police from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine contributed to the successful dismantling of this drug trafficking operation, part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) initiative which utilizes a multi-agency approach to tackle high-level criminal enterprises threatening the United States, additional information on the OCDETF can be found at their official website. Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy, along with Special Agents in Charge Jodi Cohen and Stephen Belleau, were key in announcing the details of the case which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alathea Porter and Katherine Ferguson of the Criminal Division.