EH drug courier gets 3 years for having kilo of fentanyl

Sep. 1—A Honduran man who lived in East Hartford and is believed by authorities to have been a courier for a Mexican drug supplier was sentenced this week to three years in federal prison for arriving in the parking lot of the Manchester Home Depot with a kilogram of fentanyl last October.

Marco Rivera-Mejia, 36, who has listed an address on Cannon Road and a business address on Great Hill Road, received the sentence from Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Acting U.S. Attorney Leonard C. Boyle announced.

The sentence was well below the minimum of 4 3/4 years recommended by federal sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutor Geoffrey M. Stone had called for a sentence "at or near" the minimum guidelines recommendation. Defense lawyer Michael L. Moscowitz had asked for a sentence of the time Rivera, as he is commonly known, has spent in jail since his Oct. 24 arrest, adding that federal immigration authorities will take him into custody after he completes the criminal sentence and hold him for some period.

Rivera entered the U.S. illegally in 2007 and was here illegally at the time of his October arrest, Stone wrote. Rivera "faces immigration proceedings when he completes his prison term," Boyle said in his statement.

During an investigation, authorities identified Rivera as a member of a Mexican drug trafficking organization that imports kilogram quantities of fentanyl and heroin into Connecticut, according to an affidavit by a member of a federal Drug Enforcement Administration task force. Rivera was suspected of serving as a courier of drugs and money, according to the affidavit, by Task Force Officer Jeffrey Poulin.

The officer went on to report the following:

FENTANYL COURIER

DEFENDANT: MARCO RIVERA-MEJIA, 36, WHO HAS LISTED AN ADDRESS ON CANNON ROAD AND A BUSINESS ADDRESS ON GREAT HILL ROAD, BOTH IN EAST HARTFORD

GUILTY PLEA: POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE 40 GRAMS OR MORE OF FENTANYL

SENTENCE: THREE YEARS IN PRISON

WHAT'S NEXT: IMMIGRATION PROCEEDINGS, LIKELY DEPORTATION

With approval from a federal magistrate judge, investigators began tracing the precise location of Rivera's cellphone. During September 2019, investigators watched as the phone went from Connecticut to Lynn, Massachusetts, stayed there for a short time, then returned.

When the phone got back to Connecticut, state investigators stopped the sport utility vehicle Rivera was driving, searched it, and found $6,040 in cash. A narcotics detecting dog "alerted" to the money, indicating that it had the odor of drugs on it.

Rivera "provided inconsistent information regarding the source of the currency, as well as his whereabouts prior to the stop," the officer reported.

Authorities seized the money as suspected drug proceeds but released Rivera.

More than a year later, on Oct. 24, an informant told DEA investigators that a large-scale drug transaction was going to take place in Manchester, orchestrated by "a narcotics source of supply, who resides in Mexico."

Investigators saw an SUV matching the description given by the informant arrive around 4:25 p.m. and detained Rivera, who was driving the vehicle. They found what turned out to be a kilogram of fentanyl on the floor of the vehicle near the driver's door.

In a recorded interview, Rivera admitted he knew the kilogram was narcotics, though he was unsure what type. He said he had picked it up from an unknown person in Boston and had received instructions from a person in Mexico to deliver it to another unknown person.

In his sentencing memorandum, Stone called fentanyl "an incredibly addictive and dangerous opioid" but acknowledged mitigating circumstances, including Rivera's "extremely limited education, his lack of a prior criminal history, and his employment history."

Moscowitz wrote that, while in custody, Rivera will be denied halfway houses and "any positive programs" because of his immigration status, adding that he will face danger in Honduras, where he may be suspected of being an informant merely because of his U.S. criminal case.

For updates on Glastonbury, and recent crime and courts coverage in North-Central Connecticut, follow Alex Wood on Twitter: @AlexWoodJI1, Facebook: Alex Wood, and Instagram: @AlexWoodJI.

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