Norwalk Resident Sentenced To 30 Months In Federal Prison For Trafficking Narcotics

Deirdre M. Daly, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JOSE MENDEZ-LUNA, 31, was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 30 months of imprisonment and a three year term of supervised release for trafficking narcotics.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on March 27, 2012, New York Police Department officers conducting a narcotics trafficking investigation contacted the Drug Enforcement Administration in Bridgeport with information that individuals operating out of 18-20 Taylor Avenue and 20 Woodbury Avenue in Norwalk had just received a multiple-kilogram shipment of cocaine.  Based upon this information, on the morning of March 28, members of the DEA Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and the Norwalk Police Department’s Special Services Division executed a court-authorized search of 20 Woodbury Avenue and encountered MENDEZ-LUNA, Hector Valle and others.  In a bedroom that MENDEZ-LUNA had been using, officers located a 9-millimeter firearm, a magazine with four rounds of ammunition, approximately 262 grams of cocaine, two digital scales, narcotics packaging materials and nine cell phones.  A search of Valle’s bedroom revealed quantities of cocaine and heroin, drug ledgers and approximately $8,000 in cash.  Approximately one ounce of heroin was also recovered from the kitchen of the residence.

A subsequent court-authorized search of 18-20 Taylor Avenue yielded approximately five kilograms of heroin, 10 pounds of Methamphetamine, $279,000 in cash, one handgun, ammunition and narcotics packaging materials.

MENDEZ-LUNA, a citizen of Venezuela, has been detained since his arrest on March 28, 2012.  On April 17, 2013, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine.
Valle also has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

This matter was investigated by Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, which is composed of members of the Bridgeport, Milford, Norwalk, Stamford, Stratford and Westport Police Departments.  The investigation was significantly assisted by the Norwalk Police Department’s Special Services Division and the New York Police Department.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Karwan.

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