NEW HAVEN, Conn. — After being found guilty of trafficking fentanyl and heroin in 2022, a man with Connecticut ties was sentenced in New Haven on Wednesday to 10 years and five months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
On Oct. 14, 2022, a jury found Jason Cox, 50, formerly of Bridgeport and Savannah, Ga., guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin and fentanyl, prosecutors said.
Court documents and statements made in court note that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force began investigating an organization in 2019 that was distributing heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine around Bridgeport.
While investigating, Task Force members made four controlled purchases of heroin and fentanyl from Frank Best, prosecutors said. They noted that court-authorized wiretaps and hundreds of consensual recordings made it clear that Frank Best’s uncles, Wallace Best and Jeffrey Thomas, were supplying him and others with drugs.
The investigation further discovered that Jeffrey Thomas worked with Cox to connect with Mexican-sourced drug suppliers in California who could provide kilogram quantities of narcotics for distribution on the East Coast, prosecutors said.
In December 2019, a cooperating source working in conjunction with Wallace Best, Thomas and Cox arrived at a Home Depot parking lot in San Diego and purchased 1.1 kilograms of fentanyl, cut with a veterinary sedative known as Xylazine, and Tramadol in exchange for $27,000, according to prosecutors.
“After this successful transaction, the conspirators arranged to purchase five kilograms of heroin from their Mexican suppliers,” the release from the U.S. Attorney said. “On Feb. 10, 2020, four individuals were arrested after they arrived at the same parking lot to conduct the transaction, and investigators seized a box containing 4.9 kilograms of heroin. A related search of a storage locker in San Diego revealed an additional five kilograms of heroin.”
Prosecutors said Wallace Best and Thomas were found guilty of the same charge as Cox.
Wallace Best, Thomas and Frank Best were found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine. Frank Best was also found guilty of five counts of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine, prosecutors said.
Wallace Best, Thomas and Frank Best await sentencing, while Cox has been detained since being arrested on Feb. 11, 2020.
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The case was investigated by the DEA’s Bridgeport HIDTA Task Force with assistance from the DEA San Diego Field Division. The Bridgeport HIDTA Task Force includes members of the DEA Bridgeport Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bridgeport, Norwalk, Stamford, Stratford, Milford, and Danbury Police Departments.
The case is being prosecuted through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces 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,” according to the release on Wednesday.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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