United States Drug Enforcement Administration

FEB 27 - NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Michael J. Ferguson Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, and Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Carlos Perez, also known as “Carlito,” 43, of New Haven, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny in Hartford to 41 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, in the fall of 2015, the DEA New Haven Task Force initiated an investigation into a cocaine trafficking organization headed by Halby “Harv” Lopez.  The investigation revealed that Lopez, and his associates, Omar Polanco-Mendez and Bernardo “Benny” Roman-Rolan, were obtaining bulk quantities of cocaine from multiple suppliers and redistributing the cocaine to a network of New Haven-area street-level dealers, including Perez.  The investigation included court-authorized wiretaps, controlled purchases of drugs and the seizure of multiple kilograms of cocaine.

On March 24, 2016, a grand jury in New Haven returned a 13-count indictment charging Perez, Lopez, Polanco-Mendez, Roman-Rolan and six other individuals with various narcotics offenses.  All of the defendants pleaded guilty.  Perez has been detained since his arrest on March 16, 2016. On September 27, 2016, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute between 200 and 300 grams of cocaine. On February 24, 2017, Polanco-Mendez was sentenced to 120 month of imprisonment.  Lopez and Roman-Rolan await sentencing.

The DEA New Haven Task Force includes participants from the New Haven, Hamden, West Haven, North Haven, East Haven, Branford, Ansonia, Meriden and Derby Police Departments, and the U.S. Marshals Service.