New Haven Man Sentenced to 8 Years for Operating Drug Ring

A 32-year-old New Haven man was sentenced to 100 months of prison today in relation to a drug trafficking ring.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Javon Moorning was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven to 100 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.        

This matter stems from a joint law enforcement investigation conducted by the FBI New Haven Safe Streets Task Force, the DEA New Haven Task Force, the New Haven Police Department and the Hamden Police Department. 

Through the use of court-authorized wiretaps, investigating officers identified and dismantled a large drug-trafficking organization that was centered in the Newhallville section of New Haven and Hamden, and was responsible for the distribution of crack cocaine and cocaine throughout the greater New Haven area.        

According to court documents and statements made in court, between December 2009 and April 2010, law enforcement officers conducted three controlled purchases of crack cocaine, totaling more than 26 grams, from Moorning. At the time, Moorning, also known as “Lil Red,” was serving a term of special parole.        

Moorning's criminal history includes multiple state convictions for narcotics trafficking and other offenses, according to the states attorney's office.

On April 13, 2011, Moorning pleaded guilty to one count of distribution of cocaine base (“crack cocaine”).        

Forty-seven individuals have been charged in federal court with various narcotics offenses as a result of this investigation, authorities said.

This matter has been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Haven Safe Streets Task Force (composed of members of members of the New Haven, Ansonia, Milford and East Haven Police Department, and the Connecticut State Police and the Connecticut Department of Correction); the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Task Force (composed of members of the New Haven, West Haven, Meriden, Ansonia, Hamden and Branford Police Departments); along with substantial participation by members of the New Haven and Hamden Police departments. The United States Marshals Service also has assisted the investigation.

The investigation was funded in significant part by the United States Attorney’s Office Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and supported by the office’s Project Safe Neighborhoods and Anti-Gang programs.        

This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher M. Mattei and Robert M. Spector.