Armed Drug Trafficker Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CARLYLE HENRY, 39, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for a drug trafficking and firearm possession offense.

According to court documents and statement made in court, shortly before midnight on October 12, 2022, Henry crashed his vehicle on a retaining wall on the Yale University campus.  Carlyle was arrested after Yale Police found a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun, and a bag containing distribution quantities of cocaine, packaged heroin and fentanyl, and counterfeit pills containing fentanyl.

Carlyle has been detained since his arrest.  On November 15, 2022, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

Henry’s criminal history includes state convictions for firearms possession and narcotics distribution offenses, and a federal narcotics conviction in 2006 for which he received a sentence of 50 months of imprisonment.

This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the Yale Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Clark through Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime.  Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them.  As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.