Montville Fentanyl Dealer Who Traded Gun for Drugs Sentenced to 46 Months in Federal Prison

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that KENNETH BINGELL, 34, of Montville, was sentenced yesterday via videoconference by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny to 46 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for distributing heroin and fentanyl.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force and the Norwich Police Department launched an investigation after several fatal and non-fatal overdoses occurred in a short period of time in eastern Connecticut.  Investigators determined that, beginning at least as early as January 2017 and continuing to July 2018, Juan Reyes worked with Michael Nieves to supply heroin and fentanyl to other distributors, including Bingell and other individuals who regularly traveled from eastern Connecticut to Hartford to purchase the drugs.  Bingell and others then sold the drug to customers in the Norwich and New London areas.

Investigators have connected seven other overdoses, four fatal and three non-fatal, to drugs that were supplied by Reyes and Nieves.

The investigation further revealed that in January 2018, Bingell and others burglarized a residence in Plainfield and stole three firearms.  Law enforcement subsequently recovered two of the firearms, but Bingell and another individual sold the third firearm to Reyes and Nieves in exchange for 100 bags of heroin/fentanyl and $150.

On June 8, 2021, Bingell pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin and fentanyl.

Bingell has been detained since August 8, 2019, after he was arrested on unrelated state charges for possessing distribution quantities of heroin/fentanyl.  These charges, as well as the burglary charges, are pending in state court.

Reyes and Nieves pleaded guilty to federal fentanyl distribution offenses.  On October 26, 2021, Reyes was sentenced to 151 months of imprisonment.  Nieves awaits sentencing.

This investigation has been conducted by the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force and the Norwich Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Stolfi Collins.