Kilos of cocaine were mailed to CT from Puerto Rico. One of the buyers is headed to prison.

A Connecticut man was sentenced to almost seven years in prison this week for trafficking cocaine, according to federal authorities.

Luis Cepeda, also known as “Doogie,” 35, of Bridgeport, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to a total of 70 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to federal authorities.

Authorities, citing court documents and statements made in court, said an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force and Connecticut State Police “determined a drug trafficking organization headed by Landdy Rodriguez, also known as ‘Oso,’ was obtaining kilogram-quantities of cocaine through the U.S. Mail from Puerto Rico.”

Then, in 2021, investigators “intercepted phone calls during which Reinaldo Colon Oliveras, while incarcerated in a federal prison in Atlanta and using a smuggled cell phone, arranging the shipment of cocaine to Rodriguez and his associate, Thomas Marra.  Rodriguez and Marra further distributed the drug to a network of associates,” federal authorities said in a statement.

Authorities also said that Rodriguez “directed his cousin, Jaime Rodriguez, to deliver to him five kilograms of cocaine from Florida.” Landdy Rodriguez “was also supplied with cocaine from Salvador Crespo, who ran an underground bar in Bridgeport,” federal authorities said in the statement.

Further Landdy Rodriguez “facilitated multiple transactions of fentanyl,” authorities said in the statement, noting that in 2021, Cepeda “purchased 400 grams of cocaine from Landdy Rodriguez and Crespo.”

Cepeda was arrested on Oct. 26, 2021 and a search of his home revealed about 210 grams of cocaine and 84 grams of crack cocaine, the statement said.

Cepeda has been in custody since his arrest and he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine on Dec. 2022.

Landdy Rodriguez, Colon, Marra, Jaime Rodriguez, and Crespo pleaded guilty to related charges and have been sentenced, authorities said in the statement.

The investigation was done the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force,  and Connecticut State Police, with help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Waterbury Police Department. The task force includes members from the DEA Bridgeport Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bridgeport, Danbury, Milford, Norwalk, Stamford and Stratford Police Departments.