News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2003

Bridgeport Man Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges

Bridgeport, CT….A Bridgeport man pleads guilty to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division; and United States Attorney Kevin J. O'Conner announced that David WILSON, also known as "Struggle," age 39, formerly of 245 Brooklawn Avenue, Bridgeport, pleaded guilty in federal court in New Haven to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute in excess of 1,000 kilograms of marijuana between January 1989 and August 2000. The guilty plea was entered before Senior U.S. District Judge Ellen Bree Burns.

Today's guilty plea resulted from a four-year investigation in Connecticut, New York, Arizona and Florida of a marijuana transportation ring that supplied marijuana to distributors in Connecticut for several years. Over twenty-five individuals have been arrested on both federal and state charges during the course of this investigation. In addition, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Connecticut State Police have seized over 1,500 pounds of marijuana, over $800,000 in United States currency, five vehicles and several weapons.

A federal grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment against WILSON on May 14, 2002, charging him with violations of federal narcotics laws. The indictment was returned shortly after WILSON'S arrest by Deputy United States Marshals, and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the United States Customs Service, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the John F. Kennedy International Airport as he deplaned from a flight originating in Jamaica.

During the plea proceeding, WILSON admitted participating in a conspiracy that involved the importation of more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana from Mexico and Arizona and the transportation of that marijuana to the Northeast, including Connecticut.

WILSON faces a mandatory minimum term of 10 years imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment, and a maximum fine of $4 million, when he is sentenced on June 20, 2003.