Dominican National With Prior Hartford Drug Conviction Sentenced For Illegal Reentry: Feds

HARTFORD/WEST HARTFORD, CT — A Dominican national previously convicted in a Hartford-area drug trafficking case was sentenced in federal court in Hartford to 21 months in prison for illegally re-entering the United States after being deported, federal prosecutors said.

Yunior Benavides, 50, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver, according to David X. Sullivan, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Benavides and others were charged in 2009 with federal offenses stemming from their participation in a narcotics distribution conspiracy in the Hartford area.

Benavides pleaded guilty in that case and was sentenced to 60 months in prison.

He was deported to the Dominican Republic in November 2013 after serving his sentence, prosecutors said.

Federal authorities said Benavides subsequently illegally reentered the United States.

On March 6, Homeland Security Investigations agents stopped a vehicle in West Hartford as part of a drug trafficking investigation, according to prosecutors.

Benavides was driving the vehicle and was identified as being unlawfully present in the United States, authorities said.

Prosecutors also said he possessed a false identification document.

Benavides was taken into custody and has remained detained since his arrest.

He pleaded guilty June 30 to unlawful reentry.

For more information on the case, click on this link.