Former Bridgeport Drug Trafficker Sentenced In Federal Narcotics Case

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 50-year-old former Bridgeport resident was sentenced to 125 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, in a federal fentanyl and heroin trafficking case, announced U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery.

Jason Cox, who has also lived in Savannah, Georgia, was sentenced late last month by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven. Cox has been in custody since his arrest in February 2020.

According to court documents and statements, in 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force began investigating an organization that was distributing heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine in and around Bridgeport. During the investigation, Task Force members made four controlled purchases of heroin and fentanyl from Frank Best. The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and hundreds of consensual recordings, revealed that Frank Best’s uncles, Wallace Best and Jeffrey Thomas, were supplying Frank Best and others with narcotics.

In addition, the investigation further revealed that Jeffrey Thomas worked with Cox to establish a connection to Mexican-sourced drug suppliers in California who could provide kilogram quantities of narcotics for distribution on the East Coast. A cooperating source working in conjunction with Wallace Best, Thomas, and Cox, traveled to a Home Depot parking lot in San Diego in December 2019, and purchased from their suppliers 1.1 kilograms of fentanyl, cut with Xylazine, which is a veterinary sedative, and Tramadol, in exchange for $27,000.

From the Avery announcement:

After this successful transaction, the conspirators arranged to purchase five kilograms of heroin from their Mexican suppliers. On February 10, 2020, four individuals were arrested after they arrived at the same parking lot to conduct the transaction and investigators seized a box containing approximately 4.9 kilograms of heroin. A related search of a storage locker in San Diego revealed an additional five kilograms of heroin.

On October 14, 2022, a jury found Wallace Best, Thomas, and Cox guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin and fentanyl, and Wallace Best, Thomas, and Frank Best guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base (“crack”). In addition, Frank Best was found guilty of five counts of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base.

Wallace Best, Thomas and Frank Best await sentencing.

This matter was investigated by the DEA’s Bridgeport HIDTA Task Force with the assistance of the DEA San Diego Field Division. The DEA’s Bridgeport HIDTA Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Bridgeport Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford, Stratford, Milford, and Danbury Police Departments.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen L. Peck, Lauren C. Clark, and Katherine E. Boyles 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.