Dominican Drug Dealer Out Of Hartford Pleads Guilty To Illegal Re-Entry After West Hartford Arrest

HARTFORD/WEST HARTFORD, CT — A Dominican Republic citizen previously convicted in a Hartford-area drug trafficking conspiracy has pleaded guilty to illegally re-entering the United States after being deported more than a decade ago, federal prosecutors said.

Yunior Benavides, 50, pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in U.S. District Court in Hartford to one count of unlawful reentry of a removed alien, according to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Federal prosecutors said Benavides was among several individuals charged in 2009 for participating in a Hartford-area narcotics distribution conspiracy.

He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison before being deported to the Dominican Republic in November 2013.

Authorities allege Benavides subsequently returned to the United States without authorization.

According to court documents, Homeland Security Investigations agents stopped a vehicle Benavides was driving in West Hartford on March 6, 2026, during a drug trafficking investigation.

Agents determined he was unlawfully present in the United States and took him into custody. Prosecutors also allege he possessed a false identification document at the time of his arrest.

Oliver scheduled sentencing for Sept. 22.

Benavides faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the illegal reentry charge.

He has remained in federal custody since his March 6 arrest.

For information on the case, click on this link.