A Long Beach man has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years behind bars for trafficking narcotics into Connecticut, officials announced Wednesday.
Jonathan “Gordo” Garcia, 37, pleaded guilty last year in federal court in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.
Along with the 78-month federal prison sentence, Garcia was ordered Tuesday to serve four years of supervised release.
The charges stem from a 2022 probe by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force of a suspected large-scale drug trafficking organization that was distributing kilogram quantities of fentanyl and cocaine in Connecticut.
The investigation, which utilized wiretaps, physical and electronic surveillance and controlled drug buys, revealed that the organization was receiving narcotics from sources in California via Mexico. In February 2023, investigators seized two parcels that were mailed by a member of the organization from a post office in West Hartford, Connecticut, to addresses in Southern California.
One of the packages contained about $6,500 in cash and two new Apple iPhones, and the second package contained nearly $38,300 in cash, prosecutors said.
The investigation further revealed that members of the Loose Cannonz motorcycle club, based in East Hartford, Connecticut, were receiving shipments of fentanyl and cocaine for distribution in the area.
During the investigation, law enforcement learned that Garcia and another individual were coordinating the shipment of kilogram-quantities of narcotics from Mexico to Connecticut. Garcia sometimes traveled to Connecticut to facilitate the transactions and to collect drug proceeds, officials said.
Garcia’s criminal history includes a federal cocaine trafficking conviction in the Central District of California in 2017, authorities said.