Dover man and former Rochester transient pleads guilty to trafficking fentanyl

Tyler Ward (Rochester Police photo/2018)

CONCORD - A 36-year-old man and former Rochester transient pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to two counts of distributing fentanyl and one count of possessing fentanyl with intent to distribute, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Tyler Ward distributed five grams of fentanyl in each of two separate hand-to-hand controlled transactions conducted at his apartment in Dover on Feb. 2, and Feb. 11, in 2022.

On March 3, 2022, law enforcement executed a search warrant of Ward's apartment and arrested him. He had around eight grams of fentanyl on his person at the time. A search of the apartment revealed an additional 625 grams of fentanyl. Ward subsequently admitted to law enforcement in a post-arrest interview that he had intended to sell the fentanyl recovered from his apartment.

Ward is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13, 2023.

Ward was also arrested in January 2018 on an outstanding warrant for criminal solicitation to commit a crime while staying at Rochester's former warming shelter at the National Guard Armory on Brock Street.

The case was investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Strafford County Sheriff's Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Gingrande.