United States Drug Enforcement Administration

NEW LONDON, CT. - Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) for New England and David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LAMONT MULLER, also known as “Dell” and “Cuz,” 38, of New London, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to 135 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for leading a southeastern Connecticut drug trafficking organization.

This matter stems from a joint law enforcement investigation headed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in conjunction with the DEA, the Connecticut State Police, Norwich Police Department, Groton Town Police Department, New London Police Department, Waterford Police Department, the State of Connecticut’s Department of Correction and Office of Adult Probation. The nine-month investigation included the use of court-authorized wiretaps, controlled purchases of cocaine and crack cocaine, and physical surveillance. The investigation revealed that MULLER and others were involved in the distribution of large amounts of cocaine, crack cocaine, oxycodone and marijuana in southeastern Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2007, Renaldo Goosby, a close friend of MULLER’s, fled from officers of the Waterford Police Department after a routine traffic stop. Goosby’s vehicle subsequently hit a tree and Goosby was killed instantly. Law enforcement officers recovered approximately three kilograms of cocaine from Goosby’s vehicle. In addition, a forensic examination of Goosby’s cell phone revealed that, at the time of the traffic stop, he was talking on the phone with MULLER’s cell phone. In calls subsequently intercepted during the wiretap investigation, MULLER indicated to third parties that he and Goosby were doing “about 10 a week between the both of us” before Goosby’s death.

Information developed during the course of the investigation showed that MULLER and his co-conspirators were procuring drugs from sources in the southern United States and, later, from a source in New York. For example, MULLER complained in intercepted calls that, following a codefendant’s arrest in February 2009 with 500 grams of cocaine in Louisiana, their source of drugs in Texas “had dried up.” As a result, in the summer of 2009, MULLER began reaching out to alternate sources of supply to obtain narcotics for members of the conspiracy to sell, and he traveled to New York to meet with a co-conspirator on several occasions.

MULLER was arrested on October 30, 2009. At the time of his arrest, he was found in possession of a .44 caliber firearm. As a convicted felon, MULLER was legally prohibited from possessing the weapon.

MULLER has been detained since his arrest.

On September 24, 2010, Muller pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine, 50 grams or more of cocaine (“crack cocaine”) and a quantity of marijuana and oxycodone, and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.