Mexican National Sentenced to 4 Years in Federal Prison for Trafficking Drugs from Arizona to Connecticut

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JUAN CARLOS GONZALEZ-RUBIO, 41, a citizen of Mexico last residing in Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden to 48 months of imprisonment for trafficking narcotics into Connecticut.

Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the court proceeding occurred via videoconference.

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 investigation an organization that was responsible for trafficking kilogram-quantities of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine from Mexico and Arizona to the New Haven area.  Investigators subsequently identified Gonzalez-Rubio and an associate as being responsible for moving narcotics from Arizona to Connecticut.  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 and his associate had shipped from Arizona to New Haven.  The investigation revealed that Gonzalez-Rubio and his associate 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.

In August 2019, an undercover officer met with Gonzalez-Rubio in Arizona in an attempt to arrange the transport of purported narcotics.  Gonzalez-Rubio indicated that he was preparing a trip to the northeast, that planned to use a used car on a car-hauler to transport the drugs, and that he would charge approximately $2,000 per kilogram to ship the drugs.  On October 1, 2019, the undercover officer provided Gonzalez-Rubio with what Gonzalez-Rubio believed was five kilograms of fentanyl.  The five kilograms were actually a “mock load” disguised to resemble an illicit shipment of narcotics.

On October 13, 2019, the car-hauler arrived in Connecticut. Gonzalez-Rubio was arrested on that date after he drove the car containing the mock load of narcotics to a location in East Haven.

Gonzalez-Rubio has been detained since his arrest.  On February 25, 2020, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with the intent to distribute, heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.

Gonzalez-Rubio, who has been deported previously to Mexico and returned to the U.S., faces immigration proceedings at the conclusion of his sentence.

This matter is being 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 (HSI) in New Haven and Tucson.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jocelyn Courtney Kaoutzanis and Rahul Kale.