Manchester Dealer Gets 8-Plus Years In Federal Fentanyl Case

MANCHESTER, CT — A 34-year-old Manchester man has been ordered to spend more than eight years in prison in a federal fentanyl case.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that Eduardo Colon. was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams in Hartford to 100 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for fentanyl distribution and firearm possession offenses.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on June 3, 2022, the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force made a controlled purchase of 1,000 wax sleeves of fentanyl from Colon in front of his Manchester residence on Buckland Hills Road. Later that day, a court-authorized search of Colon’s residence revealed a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun, approximately 2,100 sleeves of fentanyl, approximately 230 grams of unpackaged fentanyl, items used to process and package narcotics, a money counter, and approximately $11,000 in cash, according to case records.

Colon’s criminal history includes state felony convictions for narcotics offenses, Avery said. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce, Avery said.

Colon has been detained since June 3, 2022. On March 27, 2023, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.