Crime & Safety

Groton Man Sold Heroin, Sentenced to 46 Months

Efrain Hernandez Vasquez, 38, of Groton was sentenced to 46 months in prison for selling heroin.

The United States Attorney's Office for Connecticut issued this news release Monday:

Efrain Hernandez Vasquez, known as “Frao,” 38, of Groton, was sentenced today [Monday] by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 46 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for distributing heroin. 

In early 2012, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), the U.S. Secret Service and the New London Police Department initiated an investigation to combat the large-scale trafficking of heroin and cocaine from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico into and around southeastern Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on multiple occasions in early 2013, Hernandez Vasquez was intercepted over a court-authorized wiretap ordering five-gram quantities of heroin from his drug supplier, Luis Ariel Capellan Maldonado, for distribution purposes. Hernandez Vasquez has been incarcerated since February 2013. 

On Dec. 2, 2013, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin. More than 100 individuals have been charged with federal and state offenses as a result of this investigation. Capellan Maldonado has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

This matter is being investigated by

  • Homeland Security Investigations;
  • U.S. Secret Service;
  • U.S. Postal Inspection Service;
  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives;
  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Air and Marine;
  • Connecticut State Police;
  • New London Police Department,
  • Norwich Police Department,
  • Waterford Police Department,
  • Groton Town Police Department,
  • East Lyme Police Department and
  • Putnam Police Department. 
  • The United States Marshals Service;
  • ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations;
  • Drug Enforcement Administration;
  • HSI Assistant Attaché, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic;
  • HSI Arecibo, Puerto Rico Resident Office; 
  • Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation;
  • Connecticut Department of Correction, Parole and Community Services; and
  • the Groton City, Willimantic, New Haven and Bristol Police Departments have provided valuable assistance to the investigation.

The federal case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alina P. Reynolds, Sarah P. Karwan and Henry K. Kopel. 

The state cases are being prosecuted by the State’s Attorney for the New London Judicial District and Senior Assistant State’s Attorneys Paul Narducci and Stephen Carney.



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