A New Haven man has been sentenced to four years in prison for his involvement in a cocaine trafficking ring, according to federal authorities.
Angel Correa-Ortiz, 38, also was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in New Haven to four years of supervised release, according to federal authorities.
Authorities, citing court documents and statements made in court, said that the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force executed a federal search warrant on a “suspicious package that had been sent through the U.S. Mail” from New Haven to an address in Puerto Rico in 2020.
The package contained $102,450 in cash, authorities said in a statement.
“The investigation revealed that Jose L. Gerena, of New Haven, was supervising the receipt of numerous parcels containing kilogram quantities of cocaine that had been shipped from Puerto Rico to addresses in and around New Haven, the resale of the cocaine to others, and the shipment of narcotics proceeds to individuals in Puerto Rico,” authorities said in the statement.
Authorities said they intercepted “multiple parcels of cocaine and U.S. currency that was sent through the U.S. Mail.”
Correa-Ortiz helped find places for the organization to use to receive parcels, then moved them, and went with other organization members during drug transactions, authorities said in the statement.
Authorities said most of the cocaine was taken to a “stash house” in New Haven that Gerena, Jose Rodriguez-Caraballo and others used as a “hub to distribute wholesale quantities of cocaine.”
Rodriguez-Caraballo, also known as “Puma,” was arrested in March 2021; he had gone to Milford to “sell two kilograms of cocaine for $86,000,” authorities said, but the cocaine and a loaded 9mm handgun were seized.
Gerena was arrested on August 10, 2021, after investigators made a controlled delivery of a parcel containing a kilogram of cocaine to his New Haven residence.
Correa-Ortiz was arrested in September 2021 and he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in 2022, authorities said. He is free on a $100,000 bond and scheduled to report to prison on March 22m authorities said.
Gerena and Rodriguez-Caraballo also pleaded guilty; Gerena awaits sentencing and Rodriguez-Caraballo was sentenced to 12 years in prison last year, authorities said.
