Israel Mendoza, Heroin & Cocaine Trafficking, Connecticut 2024

A Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to 7 Years in Federal Prison for Trafficking Heroin and Cocaine into Connecticut.

Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Israel Mendoza, also known as ‘D-Nice’ and ‘Israel Mandosa,’ 45, formerly of Reading, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for trafficking heroin and cocaine into Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2018, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force began investigating a Hartford area narcotics trafficking operation that involved the use of the U.S. Mail to ship parcels of drugs and drug proceeds. Investigators determined that Mendoza supplied Michael Copeland, of Bloomfield, with large quantities of cocaine, and that Copeland, at Mendoza’s direction, mailed parcels containing cash to individuals in California.

In September and October, U.S. Postal Inspectors in California intercepted and seized two parcels, each containing approximately $13,000 in cash, that Copeland mailed in Connecticut to addresses in the Fresno area. Investigators analyzed postal records and identified dozens of additional parcels connected to this drug trafficking network that are suspected to have contained narcotics or drug proceeds.

In February 2019, investigators seized a parcel containing nearly 500 grams of cocaine that had been mailed from California to a Bloomfield residence that was connected to Copeland. Mendoza worked with others, including Neliobet DeJesus and Danny Rhodes, in the Hartford area to distribute heroin and cocaine.

On October 31, 2019, a grand jury in Hartford returned an indictment charging Mendoza, Copeland, DeJesus, and Rhodes with narcotics trafficking offenses. Mendoza remained a fugitive until his arrest on August 14, 2023, in California. On October 1, 2024, Mendoza pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, heroin and cocaine. He has been detained since his arrest.

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