A Connecticut man was sentenced Monday to six years in prison for smuggling kilogram-sized bricks of cocaine into the United States by mailing them to addresses in Connecticut and Worcester.
Marcos Mendez, a 31-year-old Florida resident, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden after being found guilty of mailing packages of cocaine from Puerto Rico to the United States via the USPS, Leonard Boyle, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, said.
Between July and December of 2018, the Drug Enforcement Administration uncovered five packages mailed to addresses across three Connecticut cities and Worcester, Mass. Each package contained multiple kilogram-sized bricks of cocaine, Boyle’s office said.
Investigators set up surveillance and observed the delivery of the packages, or the attempted delivery of packages that had been seized. They also saw Mendez, who had previously lived in Bristol, Conn., and other people picking up or trying to pick up the packages.
Mendez was arrested along with other members of a drug trafficking group in January of 2019, Boyle said. A search of his home in Bristol yielded a kilogram of cocaine, marijuana ready for distribution and more than $140,000 in cash. Two weeks after the arrest, Mendez and five others were indicted with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
In May of this year, Mendez pleaded guilty to to conspiracy to distribute at least 500 grams of cocaine. Bolden released Mendez on $500,000 bond and required him to report to prison by Jan. 3, Boyle said.