Hartford Man Gets Prison Time For Role in Overdose Deaths

HARTFORD, CT — A Hartford man was sentenced to prison Wednesday in connection with his guilty plea to a charge of distribution of heroin and fentanyl.

Ruben Morales, 45, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 46 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for distributing drugs involved in two overdose deaths in Dec. 2016, according to John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Dec. 24, 2016, Hartford police officers and emergency medical personnel responding to reports of unresponsive individuals discovered two male overdose victims in different locations on Zion Street in Hartford. A 33-year-old victim was pronounced dead shortly after he was discovered in the rear parking lot of an apartment complex on Zion Street. At the scene, officers seized various items of drug-related paraphernalia. Officers found a 25-year-old victim on the rear porch of an apartment on Zion Street. The victim was transported to the hospital and later pronounced dead, Durham said.

The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner subsequently determined that the 33-year-old victim’s death was caused by a combination of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, and the 25-year-old victim’s death was caused by a combination of cocaine, ethanol and fentanyl, Durham said.

The investigation revealed that Morales supplied fentanyl-laced heroin that both victims consumed shortly before they died, Durham said.

In January and February 2017, members of the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Violent Crime Gang Task Force conducted seven controlled purchases of heroin from Morales. Subsequent lab analysis confirmed the presence of fentanyl in six of the seven controlled purchases, Durham said.

Morales was arrested on a federal complaint on Feb. 16, 2017. On Jan. 29, 2018, he pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of heroin and fentanyl.

Judge Bryant ordered Morales, who is released on a $100,000 bond, to report to prison on June 6, according to Durham.

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