Bridgeport Man Sentenced For Role In Heroin Trafficking Ring: Feds

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 46-year-old Bridgeport man was sentenced this week to 125 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for his role in a large-scale heroin trafficking ring, announced United States Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.

Jonathan Brown was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford. He had pleaded guilty in December 2022 to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin.

According to court documents and statements, Brown was a close associate of Ivan Rosario, also known as "Ghost," who headed a Bridgeport-based heroin trafficking organization. Between approximately April 2015 and March 2017, the organization received at least 30 kilograms of heroin that had been transported from Mexico to Bridgeport hidden inside motorcycles equipped with secret compartments.

The organization then distributed the drug in the Bridgeport area, and Brown, with the help of his girlfriend, a Bridgeport real estate agent, assisted Rosario in securing "stash houses" that were used by the organization to store and process narcotics. At times, Brown also helped package and distribute narcotics, according to prosecutors.

In October 2015, law enforcement stopped a car Wilfredo Rosado-Rodriguez was driving and seized approximately $120,000 in suspected drug proceeds that he was couriering to New York. On February 14, 2017, Jose David Silva Pestano, a Mexican national, was arrested in Nogales, Arizona, after he crossed the border on a motorcycle carrying nearly 12 kilograms of heroin in a concealed compartment.

Brown was arrested in March 2017, and that same month, a grand jury in Hartford returned an indictment charging Brown, Rosario, Rosado-Rodriguez, Silva Pestano, and three other individuals with heroin trafficking and related offenses.

Following his arrest, Brown was released on a $250,000 bond; he was scheduled to plead guilty in 2018, but failed to appear for his court proceeding. Brown was located and arrested in Mexico in September 2019, and has been detained since that time.

According to prosecutors, Brown’s criminal history includes a federal conviction in November 2012 for possession of ammunition by a felon, for which he was sentenced to 34 months in prison.

From Avery's announcement:

Rosario, Rosado-Rodriguez, and Silva Pestano were convicted of related charges. On July 18, 2019, Rosario was sentenced to 210 months of imprisonment, on April 19, 2023, Rosado-Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment, and on June 27, 2018, Silva Pestano was sentenced to 87 months of imprisonment.

This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, DEA’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, Bridgeport Police Department and Stratford Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert S. Ruff and Natasha M. Freismuth through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.