A medical examiner has ruled the death of a Roslindale man found in a Boston-based Katsiroubas Produce delivery truck a homicide after an autopsy found he was shot in the back of the head, execution-style, while making deliveries in Vermont on Friday.
Roberto Fonesca-Rivera, 44, of Roslindale was shot to death between 1 and 1:30 p.m. on Friday inside the delivery truck in Rockingham, Vermont State Police said. A caller reported the suspicious truck stopped on the side of the road, according to reports.
An autopsy performed Sunday found the cause of cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and neck and police are investigating the death as a homicide, Vermont State Police said in a statement.
Fonseca-Rivera was convicted last year for his role in a cocaine distribution ring, according to information from federal prosecutors and his employer who described him as a good worker.
Fonseca-Rivera was sentenced one year and one day in federal prison on Nov. 6, 2018, after pleading guilty to cocaine distribution and conspiracy. Police say Fonesca-Rivera and four others brought kilos of cocaine to Boston from Puerto Rico through the mail.
Ted Katsiroubas said his company offered Fonesca-Rivera a “second chance.”
“We found him to leave on good terms,” Katsiroubas said. “He served his time and we felt as a company that he deserved a second chance in life.”
Fonesca-Rivera worked as a delivery driver for Katsiroubas for two years and his employer remembered him as “happy” and a “hard worker who always showed up on time.”
Fonesa-Rivera received the lightest sentence of the five men who were convicted or pleaded guilty to federal cocaine distribution and conspiracy in connection with the trafficking operation.
It’s unclear when he was released from prison or whether the cases are connected.
Fonesca-Rivera and four others — Angel Morales of Stoughton; Pablo Santiago-Cruz of Roslindale; Carlos Reyes of Framingham; and Jorge Montalvo of Roxbury — received more than 30 packages of cocaine in the mail from Puerto Rico to various addresses around Boston between January 2015 and July 18, 2016, according to U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling’s office.
The trafficking ring unraveled when a police officer found a kilo of cocaine hidden inside a toy oven in the trunk of Reyes’ car during a traffic stop on July 18, 2016.
Reyes, 50, was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison and four years of supervised release after being convicted on the charges, authorities said.
Morales, 47, was sentenced on Sept. 17, 2017, to eight years in prison.
Montalvo, 50, and Santiago-Cruz, 48, pleaded guilty to charges last year, receiving 2 1/2 years and 15 years in prison, respectively.
