D’Hati Coleman Sentenced for Crack Cocaine Distribution

D’Hati Coleman, 38, of New Haven, Connecticut, was sentenced today to 32 months in federal prison for the distribution of crack cocaine, marking the end of a years-long flight from justice that led him from a halfway house escape to the dark underbelly of Maine’s drug and sex trade.

U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. handed down the sentence in Bangor federal court, where Coleman stood convicted of selling crack cocaine to a confidential informant on September 3, 2014. At the time, he was a fugitive, having fled a Connecticut halfway house, evading authorities while building a criminal enterprise across state lines.

Court records unsealed during the hearing painted Coleman not only as a drug dealer but as a predator who exploited vulnerable women. Evidence showed he profited from commercial sex trafficking, forcing women into prostitution and pocketing the proceeds—all while peddling crack to users desperate and trapped in addiction.

“It is bad enough to be selling drugs,” Judge Woodcock told Coleman from the bench, his voice cutting through the courtroom. “But it is a different magnitude of evil to be involved in selling human beings.” The words landed like a gavel strike, underscoring the duality of Coleman’s crimes: poison in vials and poison in exploitation.

The investigation was a collaborative takedown led by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in New Haven, and the New Haven Department of Police Services. Their probe peeled back layers of Coleman’s operation, connecting transactions in parking lots to a broader network of abuse and distribution.

With his 32-month sentence, Coleman now faces federal prison followed by three years of supervised release—a period authorities will watch closely. For the victims he left behind, justice came late. But in Bangor’s cold courtroom, it finally arrived.