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Press Release

Mexican National Sentenced to More Than 7 Years in Prison for Trafficking Heroin into Connecticut

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOSE DAVID SILVA PESTANO, 33, a citizen of Mexico, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 87 months of imprisonment for trafficking heroin.

According to court documents and statements made in court, SILVA PESTANO and others conspired to traffic multi-kilogram quantities of heroin from Mexico to the Bridgeport, Connecticut area.  On multiple occasions between approximately April 2015 and March 2017, SILVA PESTANO personally transported more than 30 kilograms of heroin into Connecticut.

On February 14, 2017, SILVA PESTANO was arrested in Nogales, Arizona, after he crossed the border on a motorcycle carrying 11.94 kilograms of heroin in a concealed compartment.

On March 16, 2017, a grand jury in Hartford returned an indictment charging SILVA PESTANO and six other individuals with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, and related offenses.  SILVA PESTANO also was charged in the District of Arizona with possession with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin.  The Arizona case was transferred to the District of Connecticut for further prosecution.

SILVA PESTANO has been detained since his arrest.  On December 22, 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, and one count of possession with intent to distribute heroin.

SILVA PESTANO will be deported to Mexico when he completes his prison term.

This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, DEA’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, and Bridgeport Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Vizcarrondo and Alina Reynolds.

Updated June 27, 2018

Topics
Drug Trafficking
Opioids