Rocky Hill Resident Gets Prison Time In Federal Fentanyl Case

ROCKY HILL, CT — A Rocky Hill resident has received a 5-year-sentence in a federal drug case.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that 32-year-old Rocky Hill resident Sean Thomas was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking fentanyl.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2020, Hartford Police were investigating Thomas and others for distributing fentanyl and marijuana. As part of the investigation, records show, an undercover officer purchased marijuana from an employee at Puff Paradise, a smoke shop on New Britain Avenue owned by Thomas.

On June 2, 2020, in anticipation of executing multiple search warrants, investigators monitored Thomas as he drove his car from his Rocky Hill residence to Kenneth Street in Hartford, where he entered a parked Dodge Durango, according to case records. Believing that Thomas was conducting a narcotics transaction, detectives approached the Durango and Tafarie Green, the driver of the vehicle, accelerated and drove straight at the detectives who jumped out of the way, case records show.

Green then drove at a high rate of speed onto a sidewalk and through two chain link fences before he crashed into a tree, according to case records.

Green fled the scene on foot, but Thomas was immediately apprehended, according to case records.

A subsequent search of Puff Paradise revealed approximately 3 pounds of marijuana, and a search of Thomas’s residence revealed more than 100 grams of unpackaged fentanyl, approximately 3,500 bags of packaged fentanyl, items used to process and package narcotics for street sale, and $16,511 in cash, case records indicate.

On Jan. 20 of this year, Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.

Thomas was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshals Service after sentencing.

Green, who was on federal supervised release, was arrested on July 13, 2020. He pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and, on Aug. 31, 2021, was sentenced to 62 months in prison.