Two Maryland men were indicted by a grand jury in Hartford yesterday on charges of trafficking fentanyl into Connecticut. Oscar Flores, 34, of Mount Rainier, Maryland, and Severo Alelar, 25, of Hyattsville, Maryland, were charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl.
According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, the two men allegedly met with undercover Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in Wethersfield to sell about 15,000 fentanyl pills. After the men showed an undercover agent a sample of the pills, the agent said that they had to drive to another location to pick up the money.
En route to the second location, Flores and Alelar were stopped by law enforcement and the subsequent search of their SUV by DEA agents turned up thousands of fentanyl pills packaged in Nerds candy boxes and Skittles candy bags. The men have been in custody since September 8th awaiting the grand jury’s decision.
“Trafficking fentanyl is already and undoubtedly a serious offense,” U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said. “But one doesn’t have to stretch their imagination too far to consider how disguising fentanyl pills in children’s candy packaging, as we allege, can result in even more tragic consequences in the community.”
Each charge Flores and Alelar face for their alleged roles carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years. U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that though the men have been charged, their guilt remains to be proven.
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