2024 East Haven Garage Drug Factory Bust Leads to 12-Year Federal Prison Term For New Haven Man: Prosecutor

NEW HAVEN, CT —Emanuel Payton, 35, of New Haven, was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison for his participation in the large-scale manufacture and trafficking of counterfeit pills containing synthetic opioids and other substances, according to David X. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, this matter stems from an investigation led by the DEA New Haven’s Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service targeting the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall tablets containing methamphetamine, protonitazene, dimethylpentylone, xylazine, and other substances. Protonitazene is a Schedule I synthetic opioid that is three times more potent than fentanyl, Sullivan said.

Rented East Haven garage turned drug factory

In June 2023, law enforcement received information that Payton’s co-conspirator, Kelldon Hinton, was using a pill press to manufacture large quantities of counterfeit pills containing controlled substances, Sullivan said. Through the use of physical and electronic surveillance, the seizure and searches of parcels sent through the U.S. Mail and commercial delivery services, undercover purchases of counterfeit pills, trash pulls, and other investigative methods, investigators determined that Hinton was purchasing protonitazene, dimethypentalone, xylazine, other substances, and pill press parts from China and elsewhere, using tableting machines (“pill presses”) to manufacture counterfeit pills in a garage he rented in East Haven, marketing and selling the pills on the dark web, and mailing pills to customers around the U.S.

In text messages, Hinton referred to the rented garage as his “lab.” Between February 2023 and February 2024, Hinton shipped more than 1,300 packages through the U.S. Mail. Hinton also distributed the counterfeit pills to Payton and other associates in Connecticut who sold them to their own customers, according to Sullivan.

Hinton, Payton, and other co-conspirators were arrested on Sept. 5, 2024, after a raid at the garage.

On that date, investigators conducted court-authorized searches of several locations, including the garage located on Tyler Street Extension in East Haven, which yielded approximately one million narcotic pills weighing nearly 100 kilograms, approximately 300 grams of cocaine, two large pill presses, pill manufacturing equipment, drug ledgers, and other items.

One of the pill presses seized was capable of producing 100,000 pills per hour, Sullivan said.

"Payton visited the garage lab regularly to acquire hundreds pills for redistribution," according to the Justice Department.

West Haven site used to store drugs

The investigation subsequently revealed that Hinton rented a unit at a storage facility in West Haven, Sullivan said. On Sept. 18, 2024, a court-authorized search of the storage unit revealed hundreds of thousands of additional narcotic pills weighing nearly 100 kilograms, Sullivan said.

Payton has been detained since his arrest. On Nov. 18, 2025, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

Hinton pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

This investigation has been conducted by the DEA New Haven’s Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the DEA Chicago Cyber Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the East Haven Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren C. Clark and Konstantin Lantsman.