Jermaine Mitchell Sentenced to 21 Years for Crack Conspiracy

Jermaine Mitchell, a/k/a “Melo,” 44, of New Haven, Connecticut, is headed to federal prison for more than 21 years after being sentenced to 260 months for his central role in a long-running crack distribution conspiracy that flooded Bangor, Maine, with cocaine base between 2010 and 2013.

The sentence, handed down today by U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr., follows a June 27, 2016 conviction after a six-day jury trial in Bangor. Mitchell was found guilty of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine, a charge that exposed a tightly organized drug pipeline stretching from New Haven to the streets of central Maine.

Trial evidence laid bare a criminal operation that moved bulk quantities of crack from Connecticut to Bangor, where a network of dealers—both out-of-state couriers and local recruits—broke down and sold the drug. Profits were funneled back to New Haven, where they were reinvested into larger shipments, fueling a cycle of addiction and violence across state lines.

At the heart of the scheme were Mitchell and his cousin, Jeffrey Benton, also of New Haven. The two orchestrated logistics, distribution, and enforcement. Benton, identified during the trial as a member of the Red Side Guerilla Brims—a known faction of the Almighty Blood Nation street gang—added a layer of organized terror to the enterprise.

The takedown was the result of a multi-agency probe led by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ New Haven office, and the New Haven Police Department. Wiretaps, surveillance, and cooperating witnesses peeled back the layers of secrecy that kept the operation running for nearly four years.

Mitchell will serve 260 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert Spector and Peter Markle of the District of Connecticut are prosecuting a related case tied to the same network. The DOJ continues to dismantle the remnants of the trafficking ring.

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