New Haven Drug Dealer Sentenced to More Than 5 Years in Federal Prison

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that ZARKEE SANDERS, 42, of Hamden, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 65 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for his role in a New Haven drug trafficking ring, and for violating the conditions of his supervised release from a prior federal conviction.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in June 2017, the FBI’s New Haven Safe Streets/Gang Task Force initiated an investigation into a New Haven drug trafficking organization.  The investigation, which included physical surveillance, 13 controlled purchases of narcotics, and court-authorized wiretaps on multiple phones, revealed that members of the organization were distributing crack cocaine and oxycodone in the New Haven area.  Sanders supplied cocaine to another member of the drug organization knowing that a portion of the cocaine would be converted into crack.

Sanders and several other members of the organization were arrested on federal criminal complaints on February 6, 2018.  On February 8, 2018, a grand jury in New Haven returned a 30-count indictment charging Sanders and 18 other individuals with various offenses.

Sanders’ criminal history includes seven drug trafficking convictions, including a federal cocaine trafficking conviction in 2013.

At the time of his arrest, Sanders was on federal supervised release.  Judge Bryant sentenced Sanders to 41 months of imprisonment for trafficking cocaine, and a consecutive 24 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release.

Sanders has been detained since his arrest.  On March 14, 2019, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, cocaine base (“crack”).

This matter is being investigated by the FBI’s New Haven Safe Streets/Gang Task Force, which includes members from the New Haven Police Department, Milford Police Department, West Haven Police Department and Connecticut Department of Correction.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick F. Caruso and David C. Nelson.