Springfield Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Selling Cocaine
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 12, 2012 |
David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ARVIN PEREZ, 31, of Springfield, Mass., was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 120 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for distributing cocaine.
This matter stems from “Operation Slim Fast,” a long-term investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force that focused on drug trafficking, firearm trafficking and gang activity in the Bridgeport area. As a result of the investigation, 19 individuals have been charged in federal court with various narcotics and firearms related offenses.
According to court documents and statements made in court, intercepted calls and surveillance revealed that PEREZ and others were involved in a drug trafficking organization that trafficked kilogram quantities of cocaine from Puerto Rico, through Massachusetts, and into Connecticut. On more than10 occasions between November 2009 and January 2011, PEREZ transported a total of nearly 15 kilograms of cocaine from Massachusetts into Connecticut.
On January 4, 2011, PEREZ was arrested in Hartford with four kilograms of cocaine that he had brought from Massachusetts to sell. At the time of his arrest, PEREZ also possessed a loaded .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun and more than $16,000 in his vehicle.
On August 17, 2011, PEREZ pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. PEREZ also agreed to forfeit the cash that was seized as proceeds of drug trafficking.
PEREZ has been detained since his arrest on January 4, 2011.
This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, which is composed of personnel from the FBI, and the Bridgeport, Norwalk and Trumbull Police Departments. The United States Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Connecticut State Police, and Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stratford, Hartford, and Stamford Police Departments assisted the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Tracy Dayton, Jonathan Freimann, and Doug Morabito.