Mass. man who supplied gang with ‘particularly dangerous’ drugs began drinking, smoking at 13

At just 13, a Massachusetts boy turned to alcohol and marijuana. By 15, he was hooked on heroin. Now, three decades later, the scars of that addiction run deep — and at 39, he’s been sentenced to federal prison for his role in a Massachusetts-based drug ring.

Brian Gingras, also known as “Cheech,” was sentenced June 4 to nine years in prison. Gringas pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine.

Gingras’ “first encounter with the criminal justice system was in 2003, when he was 17 years old. The next 20 years of Defendant’s life would be an uninterrupted parade of arrests and criminal court cases,” court documents state. “Most of these cases did not result in convictions, but the records illustrate in