Feds: Arizona man gets prison for New Haven drug trafficking

An Arizona man was sentenced to more than a year in prison for trafficking drugs into New Haven, according to federal prosecutors.

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Task Force and New Haven Police Department began investigating an organization in 2018 that they believed was trafficking kilogram-quantities of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine from Mexico and Arizona into the New Haven area, according to Connecticut Acting U.S. Attorney Leonard Boyle.

In spring 2019, Noe Castro, 51, of Phoenix, Ariz., helped Mexico citizen Juan

Carlos Gonzalez-Rubio, 41, ship three packages containing large quantities of drugs from Arizona to New Haven. Two of the packages contained about one kilogram of cocaine, while another had about one kilogram of a mix of heroin and fentanyl, officials said in a release.

Investigators found that Gonzalez-Rubio and Castro trafficked narcotics through commercial shipping methods, such as UPS and FedEx, as well as through hidden compartments in commercial car-haulers, according to the release.

Castro was arrested March 6, 2020, according to the release. In June 2021, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine with the intent to distribute. U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden sentenced Castro to 20 months in prison Wednesday for the charges, according to the release.

In August 2021, GonzalezRubio was sentenced to four years in prison. He also faces immigration proceedings at the end of his sentence, officials said.

Anyone struggling with substance abuse can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration national hotline at 800-662-HELP (4357) for a free and confidential treatment referral or for more information.