California Man Sentenced In Derby Fentanyl Trafficking Case: Feds

DERBY, CT — A 27-year-old La Puente, CA man was sentenced in federal court to 84 months in prison in connection with fentanyl trafficking case that occurred in Derby, announced United States Attorney John H. Durham.

Omar Villarreal was sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford. After Villarreal’s prison term, he will have to also complete three years of supervised release.

According to prosecutors and court documents, in December 2016, law enforcement officers stopped a tractor-trailer on Route 34 in Derby, and inside of the cab of the tractor-trailer was a box that contained 25 kilograms of fentanyl. The driver of the vehicle, Erick Crespo-Escalante, a citizen of Mexico, was placed under arrest, and investigators learned that he was delivering the shipment of fentanyl to a location in Waterbury.

That Waterbury location was where Villarreal had set up a “stash” house, according to prosecutors. Villarreal had traveled from California to Connecticut a few months earlier, in October of that year, to oversee the shipment of the narcotics to Connecticut. Villarreal had stayed in Waterbury for approximately one month to coordinate the delivery and establish the location for the shipment to be delivered. After returning to California, Villarreal engaged in multiple phone calls with Crespo-Escalante to arrange the delivery via tractor-trailer to Connecticut, according to prosecutors.

Villarreal has been detained since his arrest in May 2017, and in August last year, he pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, and one count of traveling in interstate commerce to promote an unlawful activity.

In April 2017, Crespo-Escalante pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, fentanyl, and he was sentenced last month to 30 months in prison. Crespo-Escalante, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. even though he is a citizen of Mexico, faces immigration proceedings when he is released from prison.

This matter was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Task Force, which includes participants from the U.S. Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, and the New Haven, Hamden, West Haven, North Haven, Branford, Ansonia, Meriden, Derby, Middletown, Naugatuck and Waterbury Police Departments. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dave Vatti.