Hartford Dealer Gets 9 Years For Trafficking Fentanyl: Feds

HARTFORD, CT — A Hartford resident and Dominican national will spend nine years behind bars for dealing fentanyl after a federal judge sentenced him Friday.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, said Yoan Manuel Delacruz, also known as “Oreja,” 33, a citizen of the Dominican Republic last living in Hartford, was sentenced today by in New Haven federal court to nine years of imprisonment for trafficking fentanyl.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force identified Delacruz as a large-scale narcotics trafficker who was distributing kilogram quantities of fentanyl in the Hartford area.

On May 24, 2022, investigators made a controlled purchase of 1.6 kilograms of fentanyl from Delacruz, Avery said.

Delacruz was arrested on June 13, 2022.

Avery said, on that date, a search of his Wadsworth Street apartment revealed two assault-style firearms, a loaded assault-style magazine, two drum firearm magazines, 12 pistol magazines, seven boxes of ammunition, a suspected drug ledger, and cash.

A search of an apartment in the same building Delacruz used as a stash location revealed two brick-shaped kilograms of fentanyl, a significant quantity of loose fentanyl, items used to process and package narcotics, three handguns, loaded gun magazines, a bag of ammunition, and cash, she said.

Delacruz has been detained since his arrest.

On March 20, 2023, he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.

Delacruz faces immigration proceedings when he completes his prison term.

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