Oxycodone Dealer Taken Down With Help From Greenwich PD

GREENWICH, CT — A Waterbury man pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to illegally reselling 45,000 oxycodone pills in a case where members of the Greenwich Police Department played a role in his capture, according to authorities.

United States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced that 74-year-old Harry Duren pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, the opioid drug.

In total, Duren and his co-conspirators sold approximately 45,000 30mg oxycodone pills, said Daly, and his profits from the drug sales was about $700,000.

According to Daly and court proceedings, between approximately March 2011 and April 2016, "Duren obtained prescriptions for medications containing oxycodone from doctors in Connecticut and then arranged to resell the medications for his own profit."

The specific roles Greenwich police officers played in the case were not disclosed by prosecutors, but they and other Connecticut law enforcement agencies were part of the investigation which was handled by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's New Haven Tactical Diversion Squad. Other Connecticut police departments involved include Wilton, Shelton, Hamden and Milford.

Duren is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford on November 29, at which time he faces a possible maximum term of 20 years in prison.

He is currently free on a $50,000 bond pending his sentencing. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi M. Perry.

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