Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Former East Hartford Resident Sentenced to 3 Years in Federal Prison for Trafficking Fentanyl

 Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that MARCO RIVERA-MEJIA, 36, a citizen of Honduras last residing in East Hartford, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to 36 months of imprisonment for trafficking fentanyl.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force developed evidence that Rivera-Mejia was a narcotics courier for an individual who was living in Mexico.  In September 2019, investigators stopped Rivera-Mejia’s vehicle and seized approximately $6,000 in cash he was carrying in suspected narcotics proceeds.  Rivera-Mejia was released after the traffic stop.

On October 24, 2020, at approximately 4:30 p.m., Rivera-Mejia was arrested after he arrived at a parking lot in Manchester in possession of a kilogram of fentanyl that he intended to deliver to another individual.

Rivera-Mejia has been detained since his arrest.  On June 1, 2021, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.

Rivera-Mejia, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2007, faces immigration proceedings when he completes his prison term.

The DEA’s Hartford Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office and the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor Locks and Willimantic Police Departments.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone.

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