Hartford Drug Dealer Sent To Prison: Feds

HARTFORD, CT — A Hartford drug dealer will spend the next decade of his life behind bars after his sentencing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. attorney for Connecticut, said Johnny Milner, also known as “Blaze” and “O.G.,” 46, of Hartford, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny to 10 years of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking fentanyl.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force and the Hartford Police Department received information from various sources that Milner was distributing fentanyl to street-level narcotics dealers in the SANA apartment complex located on Main Street in Hartford.

The complex is commonly referred to as the “Sands” and he was using locations on Prospect Avenue and Bellevue Street in Hartford to store and distribute narcotics, Avery said.

On Feb. 21 and March 15, 2023, investigators made controlled purchases of approximately 100 grams of fentanyl from Milner at a liquor store he operated on Hillside Avenue in Hartford, she said.

On March 29, 2023, investigators conducted court-authorized searches of locations in Hartford and New Britain connected to Milner.

Avery said a search of the Bellevue Street apartment revealed packaged fentanyl, numerous items used to process and package narcotics, and a loaded .22 caliber Ruger rifle.

A search of an apartment on Chestnut Street in New Britain that Milner used revealed approximately 64 grams of xylazine-laced fentanyl, several digital scales, a money-counting machine, and $221,301 in cash, according to authorities.

Milner was arrested at the New Britain apartment and he has been detained since his arrest.

On March 12, he pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of 40 grams or more of fentanyl.