News Release [print-friendly version]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 11, 2007

Meriden Man Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison
for Dealing Crack

SEP 12 -- June W. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in New England and Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that NOEL RODRIGUEZ, age 25, of Meriden, Connecticut, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey in New Haven to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute five grams or more of cocaine base (“crack cocaine”). RODRIGUEZ pleaded guilty to the charge on May 29, 2007.

On October 4, 2006, a federal grand jury returned an Indictment charging RODRIGUEZ and several other individuals with various narcotics offenses involving the distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine in central Connecticut. The charges against RODRIGUEZ stem largely from intercepted frequent telephone conversations between RODRIGUEZ and his crack supplier.

RODRIGUEZ has been in state custody serving a two-year sentence on unrelated charges since June 8, 2006. That sentence is due to be completed on June 7, 2008. Judge Dorsey ordered the federal sentence, which begins today, to be served concurrently with the time remaining on RODRIGUEZ’s state sentence.

This investigation was a collaborative effort of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Meriden Police Department.