United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that JONATHAN BROWN, 46, of Bridgeport, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 125 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for his role in a large-scale heroin trafficking ring.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Brown was a close associate of Ivan Rosario, also known as “Ghost,” who headed a Bridgeport-based heroin trafficking organization that, between approximately April 2015 and March 2017, received at least 30 kilograms of heroin that had been transported from Mexico to Bridgeport hidden inside motorcycles equipped with secret compartments.  The organization then distributed the drug in the Bridgeport area.  Brown, with the help of his girlfriend, a Bridgeport real estate agent, assisted Rosario in securing “stash houses” that were used by the organization to store and process narcotics.  At times, he also helped package and distribute narcotics.

In October 2015, law enforcement stopped a car Wilfredo Rosado-Rodriguez was driving and seized approximately $120,000 in suspected drug proceeds that he was couriering to New York.  On February 14, 2017, Jose David Silva Pestano, a Mexican national, was arrested in Nogales, Arizona, after he crossed the border on a motorcycle carrying nearly 12 kilograms of heroin in a concealed compartment.

Brown was arrested on March 3, 2017.  On March 16, 2017, a grand jury in Hartford returned an indictment charging Brown, Rosario, Rosado-Rodriguez, Silva Pestano, and three other individuals with heroin trafficking and related offenses.

Following his arrest, Brown was released on a $250,000 bond.  He was scheduled to plead guilty on March 5, 2018, but failed to appear for his court proceeding.  Brown was located and arrested in Mexico in September 2019, and has been detained since that time.

On December 22, 2022, Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin.

Brown’s criminal history includes a federal conviction in November 2012 for possession of ammunition by a felon.  He was sentenced to 34 months of imprisonment for that offense.

Rosario, Rosado-Rodriguez, and Silva Pestano were convicted of related charges.  On July 18, 2019, Rosario was sentenced to 210 months of imprisonment, on April 19, 2023, Rosado-Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment, and on June 27, 2018, Silva Pestano was sentenced to 87 months of imprisonment.

This matter was investigated by the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, DEA’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, Bridgeport Police Department and Stratford Police Department.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert S. Ruff and Natasha M. Freismuth through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.