David X. Sullivan, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Eduardo Aguilar-Linares has been sentenced to 158 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven due to Aguilar-Linares's involvement in fentanyl trafficking and violating conditions of his previous supervised release.
Court documents reveal that Aguilar-Linares was initially sentenced on May 1, 2017, in the Eastern District of New York to 29 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release for a similar offense. Released from federal custody in June 2018, he moved to East Hartford where his supervision was transferred to the District of Connecticut. He later absconded and fled to Mexico.
In July 2019, an investigation by the DEA’s Hartford Task Force uncovered a Mexican-based drug trafficking organization distributing fentanyl and heroin in Connecticut. It was determined that while residing in Mexico, Aguilar-Linares trafficked large quantities of narcotics into Connecticut through associates who distributed them locally. These associates used various locations for storing and processing drugs including spaces on Pratt Street in Hartford and apartments in Asylum Hill neighborhood and New Britain.
The organization laundered proceeds through a money broker based in Brooklyn, New York before transferring funds back to Aguilar-Linares and others involved. Between August and October 2019, authorities seized over $200,000 from members of this drug network.
Aguilar-Linares was indicted along with nine others on June 3, 2020, for narcotics distribution and money laundering offenses but remained at large until his arrest on December 20, 2023, in Texas. Detained since then, he pleaded guilty on February 18, 2025.
Judge Hall imposed a sentence comprising two parts: one being a term of 137 months for fentanyl trafficking; another being an additional consecutive term of 21 months for violating supervised release conditions.
The DEA’s Hartford Task Force included personnel from multiple police departments across Connecticut as well as assistance from the DEA New York Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Strike Force and NYPD during their investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone prosecuted this case under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program which provides further details at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.
