AZ Man Gets Prison Bid For Trafficking Drugs To New Haven: Feds

New Haven CT

20 October, 2021

5:14 PM

Description

NEW HAVEN, CT — An Arizona man was sentenced to 20 months in prison Wednesday for trafficking kilogram-quantities of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine into New Haven, federal prosecutors said. Noe Castro, 51, of Phoenix, has been detained since his arrest on March 6, 2020. On June 2, 2021, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with the intent to distribute, heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, federal prosecutors said. According to court documents and statements made in court, in late 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration's New Haven Task Force and New Haven Police Department began investigating an "organization" that was responsible for trafficking drugs from Mexico and Arizona to the New Haven area. federal prosecutors said. Soon, investigators identified Juan Carlos Gonzalez-Rubio as being responsible for moving the drugs with Castro's "assistance," authorities said. Between March and May 2019, investigators intercepted three packages – two that contained approximately one kilogram of cocaine, and one that contained approximately one kilogram of a mixture of heroin and fentanyl – that Gonzalez-Rubio, with Castro's assistance, had shipped from Arizona to New Haven, prosecutors said. "The investigation revealed that Gonzalez-Rubio and Castro trafficked narcotics both through the use of commercial shipping methods, like UPS and FedEx, and by secreting drugs in cars with hidden compartments that were transported on commercial car-haulers," a release from the U.S. Attorney's office reads. On August 21, 2021, Gonzalez-Rubio was sentenced to 48 months of imprisonment. Gonzalez-Rubio, who was previously deported to Mexico and returned to the U.S., faces immigration proceedings at the conclusion of his sentence. This matter was investigated by the DEA Task Force and the New Haven Police Department, with the assistance of the DEA in Tucson and Phoenix, and Homeland Security Investigations in New Haven and Tucson. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn Courtney Kaoutzanis and Rahul Kale.