A man previously convicted of trafficking narcotics in New York has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison after authorities reportedly found that he was involved in trafficking fentanyl and heroin from Mexico to Connecticut while he was on supervised release.
Eduardo Aguilar-Linares, 34, faced sentencing on Wednesday in federal court in New Haven, where a judge handed down a 158-month prison term followed by five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
Federal officials said Aguilar-Linares was previously sentenced to 29 months in prison and three years of supervised release during a hearing on May 1, 2017, in the Eastern District of New York in connection with a fentanyl trafficking offense. He was released from federal prison in June 2018 before his supervision was transferred to the District of Connecticut while he resided in East Hartford.
According to authorities, Aguilar-Linares at some point absconded his supervised release and fled to Mexico.
During an investigation that was launched in July 2019 by the DEA’s Hartford Task Force, authorities found that Aguilar-Linares was involved in a Mexican-based drug trafficking organization that was allegedly responsible for distributing fentanyl and heroin in Connecticut, officials said. The investigation found that he was living in Mexico and trafficking kilogram-quantities of narcotics — mainly fentanyl — to associates in Connecticut who would then distribute the drugs to street-level dealers, according to federal officials.
Authorities said the associates used several locations to “store, process and package” fentanyl, including office space on Pratt Street in Hartford, an apartment in the Asylum Hill neighborhood in Hartford and an apartment in New Britain. Investigators said the money generated from the narcotics trafficking was taken to a broker in Brooklyn, New York, before it was laundered and transferred to Aguilar-Linares and others. Between August and October 2019, investigators reportedly seized more than $200,000 from members of the organization.
On June 3, 2020, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Aguilar-Linares and nine others with narcotics distribution and money laundering offenses. Aguilar-Linares remained a fugitive until Dec. 20, 2023, when he was arrested in Texas. He has been in custody since then.
On Feb. 18, Aguilar-Linares pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of fentanyl. He was sentenced 137 months in prison for the fentanyl trafficking offense and a consecutive 21-month prison term for violating the conditions of his supervised release.
