Illegal immigrant arrested at Massachusetts shelter with gun, alleged fentanyl stash, was not part of state program, Gov. Healey says

Chris Van Buskirk, Boston Herald on Jan 7, 2025

Published in News & Features

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BOSTON — An undocumented immigrant who was arrested at a state-run shelter in Revere last month allegedly with an AR-15 and $1 million worth of fentanyl was not officially part of the emergency assistance program but was staying with someone who was, Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday

A day after ordering an inspection of all emergency shelter units, Healey said officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken custody of Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic who federal officials said unlawfully entered the country at an unknown date and location within the past year.

Healey said Sanchez did not apply for emergency assistance shelter, which was set up under a 1980s law to provide temporary housing to homeless pregnant women and families with children.

“No, he didn’t apply. That’s what we understand. I mean, we’re going to learn more through this investigation,” Healey told reporters after an event at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. “… This is subject to criminal investigation so I want to be careful about what I’m saying.”

The first-term Democrat did not identify the person who Sanchez was staying with who was a beneficiary of state shelter services and referred questions from the Herald to the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, which partially oversees the system.

A spokesperson for the agency did not immediately respond to a list of Herald questions about the person Sanchez was staying with and the security measures at the Quality Inn in Revere where he was arrested last month.

For the past year and a half, the Healey administration has said only migrants who are lawfully allowed into the United States by the federal government are eligible for state-run shelter services. About half of the families in the shelter system are migrants while the rest are Massachusetts residents, according to the administration.

Sanchez faces 11 charges stemming from the arrest, including 10 related to firearms and one alleging he had 4.9 kilos, or just under 11 pounds, of fentanyl, according to court documents. His privately hired attorney has previously said the charges are “just allegations.”

“We are going to fight this case tooth and nail and we are going to hold the Commonwealth to the standard that they have to prove every element of every charge to a reasonable doubt,” Attorney John Benzan told the Herald last week.

Benzan did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Tuesday.

Healey said Sanchez was removed from the shelter after his arrest and is now in ICE custody. A spokesperson for the federal agency did not immediately confirm if Sanchez was in ICE custody.

ICE officials said Sanchez was arrested Dec. 27 and arraigned in Chelsea District Court days later for possessing a firearm and a large capacity feeding device, possessing a firearm in a felony, being an alien in possession of a firearm, the unlicensed sale or possession of an assault weapon, and trafficking in 200 grams or more of heroin, morphine, opium or fentanyl.

“During a Spanish-language interview, ERO officers determined that Andujar unlawfully entered the U.S. on an unknown date at an unknown location sometime within the past year,” ICE officials said in a statement last week that referred to the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations unit in Boston.

Sanchez’s arrest sparked Healey to order an inspection of all state-run shelter units and a “full review” of the intake process for the system to determine if additional steps can be added to prevent criminal activity.

A spokesperson for Healey said inspections will be conducted by staff of the various providers serving the shelters “consistent with applicable shelter rules.”

Staff members will be tasked with looking for any “non-compliance with shelter rules, such as indications of criminal activity or anything that would raise significant health or safety concerns,” the spokesperson said.

Eliot Community Human Services, a Lexington-based organization, is the provider for the Revere shelter, according to the state’s housing agency. The organization’s president and CEO, Melinda Matthews, did not immediately respond to an emailed inquiry from the Herald.

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