Feds: Man trafficked drugs from Arizona to New Haven area

A man last living in Arizona was sentenced Friday to four years in federal prison for trafficking narcotics to Connecticut, authorities said.

Juan Carlos GonzalezRubio, 41, a citizen of Mexico, last living in Phoenix, Ariz., was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John Durham.

In late 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Task Force and New Haven police started investigating an organization responsible for trafficking kilogram-quantities of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine from Mexico and Arizona to the New Haven area, officials said.

Investigators eventually identified Gonzalez-Rubio and an associate as being responsible for moving the drugs from Arizona to Connecticut, authorities said. From March through May 2019, investigators intercepted three packages that Gonzalez-Rubio and his associate shipped from Arizona to New Haven, authorities said.

Authorities said two of those packages seized had 1 kilogram of cocaine, while the other had about 1 kilogram of a mix of heroin and fentanyl.

Gonalez-Rubio and his associate used UPS and FedEx to ship their drugs, according to authorities. The two put the drugs in hidden compartments of vehicles being transported on commercial car-haulers.

In August 2019, an undercover officer met with Gonzalez-Rubio in Arizona to arrange a transport of drugs. The man told the undercover officer he was preparing for a trip to the northeast, and planned to use a used car on a hauler to transport the drugs, authorities said. Authorities said he told the undercover officer he would charge about $2,000 per kilogram to ship the drugs.

On Oct. 1, 2019, the undercover officer gave Gonzalez-Rubio what the man believed to be 5 kilograms of fentanyl. Instead, the officer gave Gonzalez-Rubio something disguised to look like a shipment of drugs.

Twelve days later, the car-hauler arrived in Connecticut. When GonzalezRubio was caught driving the car with the fake fentanyl to a spot in East Haven, authorities arrested him. He has been detained since his arrest.

Gonzalez-Rubio pleaded guilty on Feb. 25 to conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with the intent to distribute, heroin, fentanyl and cocaine. Authorities said the man was previously deported to Mexico and returned to the U.S., which means he faces immigration proceedings after his sentence is up.