Rocky Hill Man Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison for Trafficking Fentanyl

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that SEAN THOMAS, 32, of Rocky Hill, was sentenced today 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, 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 surveilled Thomas as he drove his car from his Rocky Hill residence to Kenneth Street in Hartford, where he entered a parked Dodge Durango.  Believing that Thomas was conducting a narcotics transaction, detectives approached the Durango.  Tafarie Green, the driver of the vehicle, accelerated and drove straight at the detectives who jumped out of the way.  Green then drove at a high rate of speed onto a sidewalk and through two chain link fences before he crashed into a tree.  Green fled the scene on foot, but Thomas was immediately apprehended.  A subsequent search of Puff Paradise revealed approximately three 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.

On January 20, 2022, 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 August 31, 2021, was sentenced to 62 months of imprisonment.

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force and the Hartford Police Department’s Vice, Intelligence and Narcotics Unit, with the assistance of the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian P. Leaming.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.