NEW HAVEN, CT — A 41-year-old New Haven man was sentenced Wednesday, Sept. 30, to five years in federal prison and four years of supervised release for selling fentanyl and crack cocaine out of a Branford hotel room, U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan said.
U.S. District Judge Sarah F. Russell imposed the sentence in New Haven, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. Five years is the mandatory minimum for the offense, which carries up to 40 years.
Two searches of the same hotel room
The FBI's Safe Streets Gang Task Force built the case, the prosecutor said. Investigators bought drugs from the man on Oct. 15, 2025. When they searched his room under a court warrant two days later, they found $13,867 in cash, packaging materials, more than 70 grams of fentanyl and nearly 700 grams of cocaine, Sullivan said. He was arrested on state charges and released on bond.
Federal prosecutors then took over the case. A grand jury indicted him Jan. 7, and he was arrested the next day. A search of the same Branford hotel room that day turned up seven grams of powder cocaine, 25 grams of crack and about 60 grams of fentanyl, according to the release, as reported by Patch. Authorities have not named the hotel.