CT man gets 12 years in prison for leading drug trafficking operation that sent cocaine through the mail from Puerto Rico
A New Haven man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for leading a drug trafficking operation that involved cocaine coming into New Haven through the mail from Puerto Rico.
Jose L. Gerena, 33, faced sentencing on Friday in federal court in New Haven, where a judge ordered he serve five years of supervised release once he is released from prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.
Gerena’s sentence comes after he pleaded guilty during a hearing in November 2022 to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.
According to federal officials, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force in November 2020 used a search warrant to inspect a suspicious package that had been sent through the mail from New Haven to an address in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, finding $102,450 inside.
Federal officials said investigators then discovered that Gerena led an extensive drug-trafficking organization and oversaw the shipment of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New Haven and the distribution of the drugs. Proceeds made off the drug distribution were then sent back to Puerto Rico, according to federal officials.
“Gerena was responsible for trafficking more than 100 kilograms of cocaine,” the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement.
During the investigation, authorities found that the drug trafficking organization regularly received cocaine shipments at various addresses in New Haven.
In August 2021, investigators intercepted two parcels, each containing a kilogram of cocaine, that had been sent through the U.S. Mail from Puerto Rico to addresses on Poplar and Exchange streets in New Haven. Federal officials said Gerena was arrested on Aug. 10, 2021, after investigators made a controlled delivery of a parcel containing a kilogram of cocaine to the Poplar Street address. He has been in custody since this arrest.