New York Man Sentenced to 70 Months in Federal Prison for Trafficking Cocaine
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 08, 2011 |
David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LUIS PAULINO, 40, of New York, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 70 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for selling cocaine.
This matter stems from an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation dubbed “Operation Brass Deal,” which was spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force in New Haven. As a result of the investigation, a total of 16 individuals were charged and subsequently pleaded guilty to various narcotics offenses related to the large-scale distribution of cocaine, crack cocaine, marijuana and oxycodone in New Haven, East Haven, Branford, West Haven and other towns in New Haven County.
According to court documents and statements made in court, between November 2008 and May 2009, PAULINO transported cocaine and crack cocaine from New York to New Haven on behalf of a New York-based cocaine supplier and made deliveries to customers. Specifically, on May 1, 2009, PAULINO sold one-half kilogram of cocaine to a co-defendant in the vicinity of Middletown Avenue in New Haven.
PAULINO also used a residence located on Huntington Road in New Haven as a stash house. A search of the property on May 2, 2009 resulted in the seizure of 497 grams of cocaine, 719 grams of crack cocaine and $72,200 in cash.
On December 3, 2010, PAULINO pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine base (“crack cocaine”). PAULINO also has forfeited a Honda Accord, which he used to transport drugs, and the $72,200 seized from his stash house.
PAULINO has been detained since his arrest on May 2, 2009.
This matter was investigated by the FBI New Haven Safe Streets Task Force, which is composed of representatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Haven Police Department, the Ansonia Police Department, the Milford Police Department, the East Haven Police Department, the Hamden Police Department, the Connecticut State Police and the Connecticut Department of Correction. This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert M. Spector and Christopher M. Mattei.