Hartford Woman Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Role in Heroin Trafficking Ring

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that ZULEYMA CRUZ, 29, of Hartford, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 24 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for her role in a heroin trafficking operation.

According to court documents and statements made in court, this matter stems from a Drug Enforcement Administration Hartford Task Force investigation into a drug trafficking organization that distributed large quantities of heroin in the Hartford area.  The investigation revealed that CRUZ allowed members of the organization to store heroin, cocaine, drug packaging materials and cash at her Wayland Street apartment, and allowed her apartment to be used to process and package narcotics for street sale.

CRUZ and several co-conspirators were arrested on June 4, 2015.  On that date, a search of CRUZ’s apartment revealed a bag of cocaine, approximately 400 bags of heroin, a heroin stamp, six boxes containing hundreds of stamped bags for packaging heroin, and other items used to process and package heroin for street sale.

On February 17, 2017, CRUZ pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin.

CRUZ is currently incarcerated in state custody.  In September 2015, she was sentenced in Manchester Superior Court to a total effective sentence of seven and one-half years of incarceration on convictions for manslaughter with a motor vehicle and assault with a motor vehicle.

Judge Bryant ordered CRUZ to begin serving the 24-month federal sentence when she is released from state custody.

Six other individuals were charged as a result of this investigation.

This matter has been investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force with the assistance of the Connecticut State Police.  The DEA Task Force includes participants from the Bristol, East Hartford, Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Willimantic and Windsor Locks Police Departments, and the Food and Drug Administration.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone.