New Haven 22-Year-Old Charged With Crack Distribution: Feds

New Haven CT

19 August, 2021

11:35 AM

Description

NEW HAVEN, CT — A federal grand jury in Hartford returned an indictment charging Zaquawn Arrington, 22, of New Haven, with three counts of possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, federal prosecutors said. Though indicted July 21, Arrington appeared Wednesday via videoconference before a U.S. Magistrate Judge and pleaded not guilty. According to the Acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut and as alleged in court documents, Arrington was arrested by West Haven police in January after they found him in possession of crack cocaine packaged for distribution and $763 in cash and later an "analysis of an iPhone seized from Arrington at the time of his arrest revealed multiple photos and videos of firearms, including photos of Arrington possessing firearms." In late June, New Haven police "attempted to stop" a car being driven by Arrington, but he "fled at a high rate of speed," federal prosecutors said. Two weeks later, on July 6. New Haven police found and arrested Arrington, with, feds said, "crack cocaine packaged for distribution and $580 in cash." He was arrested on a federal criminal complaint on July 21 and that same day, a search of his home "revealed crack cocaine packaged for distribution, a digital scale, and $2,075 in cash and the following day, a court-authorized search of a parked vehicle that Arrington had been seen accessing revealed a loaded ghost gun," federal prosecutors said. A ghost gun is described as being a home-made firearm sans serial numbers built from parts that can be obtained without a background check. See related story about 'ghost guns' here. If convicted, Arrington faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count. This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New Haven Safe Streets/Gang Task Force, the New Haven Police Department and the West Haven Police Department. The Task Force includes members from the Connecticut State Police, Connecticut Department of Correction and the New Haven, Milford, East Haven and West Haven Police departments. 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.