Maryland Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Trafficking Narcotics into Southeastern Connecticut

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that KAREEM SWINTON, also known as “K,” 41, last residing in Owings Mills, Maryland, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to 120 months of imprisonment, followed by six years of supervised release, for narcotics trafficking offenses.

According to the evidence presented during a trial last year, in 2018, the FBI, the Norwich Police Department and other law enforcement agencies began investigating a narcotics trafficking organization that was operating in southeastern Connecticut.  The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and controlled purchases of crack, revealed that Swinton, who formerly resided in Norwich, regularly traveled to Connecticut and other states to supply co-conspirators with narcotics, primarily cocaine and crack.  Swinton’s co-coconspirators in Connecticut distributed the drugs in the Norwich area.

On August 3, 2022, a jury found Swinton guilty of one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, cocaine and cocaine base (“crack”), and one count of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, a controlled substance. 

Ten other individuals were convicted of narcotics trafficking offenses stemming from this investigation.

Swinton has been detained in federal custody since February 21, 2019.

Swinton’s criminal history includes a prior federal conviction for trafficking cocaine and crack.  In June 2008, Swinton was arrested by the Texas Highway Patrol after he was found in  possession of approximately two kilograms of cocaine and more than two pounds of marijuana that he was transporting from Arizona to Connecticut.  In August 2009, he was sentenced in Bridgeport federal court to 100 months of imprisonment for that offense.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Connecticut State Police, and the Norwich, Town of Groton, and Waterford Police Departments, with the assistance of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, the Baltimore Police Department, and the Delaware State Police.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Natasha M. Freismuth and Marc H. Silverman through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.