Date: October 6, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Lance Baptiste of Waterbury, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to 36 months of imprisonment for distributing heroin while on supervised release for a prior heroin trafficking conviction. According to court documents and statements made in court, this matter stems from a joint investigation headed by the DEA New Haven Task Force and the Waterbury and Naugatuck Police Departments. The investigation, which included the use of court-authorized wiretaps, physical surveillance and controlled purchases of narcotics, revealed that Keith Jordan of Waterbury received large quantities of heroin from various suppliers and sold the drug to other drug distributors and street-level customers. Jordan also purchased and distributed cocaine. The investigation further revealed that Domingo Alves, of Waterbury, served as one of Jordan's drug suppliers, and also sold heroin to other distributors and his own customers. Baptiste assisted Alves in his heroin distribution activity. Baptiste's criminal history includes six drug convictions, including a federal heroin trafficking conviction in 2012 for which he was sentenced in the Southern District of New York to 87 months of imprisonment. He was released from federal prison in July 2017 and was on federal supervised release at the time of his criminal activity in this case. Baptiste, Jordan, Alves and 26 other individuals were charged with various offenses related to the distribution of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and crack cocaine as a result of this investigation. Baptiste was arrested on March 20, 2019. On January 22, 2020, he Baptiste pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, heroin. Baptiste, who is released on bond, is required to report to prison on November 10, 2021. On January 27, 2021, Jordan was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment. This investigation has been conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration New Haven Task Force, Waterbury Police Department and Naugatuck Police Department, with the critical assistance of the U.S. Secret Service, New York Field Office. The DEA New Haven Task Force includes participants from the U.S. Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, and the New Haven, East Haven, West Haven, Branford, Ansonia, Meriden, Middletown, Naugatuck and Waterbury Police Departments.
