West Hartford resident Jeimy Rodriguez was sentenced on Nov. 19, 2024.

By Ronni Newton

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that a West Hartford resident has received a five-year sentence after being convicted on charges of narcotics trafficking

Jeimy Rodriguez, 39, was arrested at his West Hartford residence on June 7, 2023, the Department of Justice said in a press release, and has been in detention since his arrest. He pleaded guilty on June 27, 2024 to possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, and was sentenced Tuesday, Nov. 19 by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release.

According to the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force began an investigation of a large-scale drug trafficking organization – that included use of court-authorized wiretaps and various other surveillance methods, as well as controlled purchases of narcotics –  in July 2022. The organization was suspected to be distributing “kilogram quantities” of fentanyl and cocaine throughout Connecticut.

Rodriguez, who was at the time president of the Loose Cannonz motorcycle club, was found through the investigation to be receiving shipments of fentanyl and cocaine for distribution in the Hartford area.

“On March 13, 2023, investigators made a controlled purchase of approximately 80 grams of fentanyl from Rodriguez at his auto repair shop on Broad Street in Hartford.  On April 7, 2023, investigators purchased approximately 86 grams of cocaine from Rodriguez in the vicinity of Zion and Hamilton Streets in Hartford.  The cocaine appeared to be broken off of a kilogram brick of cocaine,” the DOJ said in the press release.

When Rodriguez was arrested in West Hartford, investigators also found and seized two firearms in his home. A search of the Loose Cannonz motorcycle club on that date also revealed a quantity of fentanyl.

The DEA’s Hartford Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, were involved in the investigation, and the case is being prosecuted through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program – which “identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.”

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