East Windsor Man Indicted In Hefty Fed Fentanyl/Coke Case

EAST WINDSOR, CT — Three accused drug dealers — including an East Windsor man — have been charged in a federal fentanyl and cocaine trafficking case.

Leonard C. Boyle, acting United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, announced Monday that a federal grand jury in Hartford has returned a five-count indictment charging 36-year-old Farmington resident Denis Murtic, 45-year-old East Windsor resident Alexander Rodriguez and Efrain Rosario, 41, of Hartford, with fentanyl and cocaine trafficking offenses.

According to court documents, since September 2020, the DEA's Hartford Task Force has been investigating Murtic for trafficking large quantities of fentanyl and cocaine. On Sept. 3, 2020, a court-authorized search of a Hartford apartment connected to Murtic revealed thousands of wax folds of fentanyl, more than 700 grams of cocaine, and items used to process and package narcotics for distribution.

On Oct. 18 of this year, investigators made a controlled purchase of approximately 50 grams of fentanyl from Murtic and Rodriguez at a parking lot in East Hartford. After the transaction, investigators observed Murtic and Rodriguez travel to an apartment on Wakefield Circle in East Hartford, case records show.

On Oct. 26 of this year, Murtic, Rodriguez and Rosario were arrested at the apartment, which was being used as a narcotics processing and packing mill, according t case records. Authorities said a search of the apartment revealed tens of thousands of glassine bags and wax folds of fentanyl, a compressed brick of cocaine weighing approximately 1 kilogram, a half-kilogram of cocaine, and numerous narcotics processing and packaging items, including a kilogram press.

The indictment, which was returned on Nov. 3, charges Murtic, Rodriguez and Rosario with conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, 400 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams or more of cocaine. The defendants are also charged in multiple counts of possessing and/or distributing fentanyl and cocaine.

If convicted of the most serious charges, each faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years a maximum term of imprisonment of life.

Acting U.S. Attorney Boyle stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Murtic and Rosario are currently detained and Rodriguez is released on a $100,000 bond.