By Tiffany Williams –
On Monday, May 1, 2023, at the United States District Court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Edwin Reyes, 40, of New Britain, Connecticut was sentenced to 72 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release.
On October 15, 2021, Reyes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl. He failed to appear for his sentencing on September 19, 2022, and was located and arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Texas on November 22, 2022. He has been detained since that date.
As the result of a joint investigation led by the DEA’s Hartford Task Force with assistance of local police and the Connecticut State Police, Reyes was arrested on June 29, 2017.
In October 2016, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force began investigating an organization that was trafficking large quantities of heroin, fentanyl and other narcotics in Connecticut and western Massachusetts.
The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps, controlled purchases of narcotics and physical surveillance, revealed that Reyes and other members of the organization were receiving bulk quantities of heroin and fentanyl from out-of-state suppliers.
They stored, processed and packaged the heroin/fentanyl in multiple locations, including apartments located at 280 Collins Street in Hartford where some members of the organization also resided, and then distributed the drug in the Hartford area, and also the Springfield, Massachusetts and Holyoke, Massachusetts areas.
A significant amount of drug trafficking activity occurred at the Neighborhood Supermarket, located at 316 Farmington Avenue in Hartford.
The investigation also revealed that members of the drug trafficking organization possessed and used firearms in connection with their drug trafficking activity.
During the investigation, law enforcement executed 12 search warrants in Connecticut and Massachusetts and seized approximately 10 kilograms of heroin and fentanyl.
Investigators also seized numerous vials of Xylazine, which is a horse tranquilizer used by narcotics traffickers as a heroin/fentanyl additive.
Seven firearms, gun magazines, numerous rounds of ammunition, and a bullet proof vest were also seized.
NewsTalk New England 