A federal grand jury in Bridgeport has returned an indictment charging seven individuals: Kelldon Hinton, 45, of New Haven; Heshima Harris, 53, of New Haven; Emanuel Payton, 33, of New Haven; Marvin Ogman, 47, of West Haven, Shawn Stephens, 34, of West Haven, Arnaldo Echevarria, 42, of Waterbury, and Cheryle Tyson, 64, of West Haven with offences related to the large-scale manufacture and trafficking of counterfeit pills containing synthetic opioids and other substances.
As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, this matter stems from an investigation led by the DEA New Haven’s Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service targeting the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall tablets containing methamphetamine, protonitazene, dimethylpentylone, xylazine, and other substances.
Protonitazene is a Schedule I synthetic opioid that is three times more potent than fentanyl. In June 2023, law enforcement received information that Kelldon Hinton was using a pill press to manufacture large quantities of counterfeit pills containing controlled substances.
Through the use of physical and electronic surveillance, the seizure and searches of parcels sent through the U.S. Mail and commercial delivery services, undercover purchases of counterfeit pills, trash pulls, and other investigative methods, investigators determined that Hinton, with the assistance of his co-conspirators, was purchasing protonitazene, dimethypentalone, xylazine, other substances, and pill press parts from China and elsewhere, using tableting machines (“pill presses”) to manufacture counterfeit pills in a garage he rented in East Haven, marketing and selling the pills on the dark web, and mailing pills to customers around the U.S.
In text messages, Hinton referred to the rented garage as his “lab.”
Between February 2023 and February 2024, Hinton shipped more than 1,300 packages through the U.S. Mail. Hinton also distributed the counterfeit pills to associates in Connecticut, who sold them to their own customers.
On September 5, 2024, Hinton, Harris, Payton, Stephens, and Echevarria were arrested on federal criminal complaints.
On that date, investigators conducted court-authorized searches of several locations, including the garage located on Tyler Street Extension in East Haven, which yielded several hundred thousand pills, two large pill presses, and pill manufacturing equipment. One of the pill presses seized was capable of producing 100,000 pills per hour.
It is further alleged that, as the investigation continued, Ogman communicated with Tyson and shared with her news reports of the search and court information of the arrests. He also continued to distribute pills produced by Hinton, and law enforcement is currently investigating a drug overdose death that occurred recently in Connecticut.
Pills recovered from the scene appear to match those produced by the Hinton organisation, and a preliminary search of the victim’s cellphone text messages revealed that Ogman supplied pills to the victim.
The indictment added Ogman and Tyson as defendants, and was returned on September 18. Ogman and Tyson were arrested on September 19.
The indictment charges each of the seven defendants with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and protonitazene.
On this charge, based on the quantities of controlled substances attributed to each defendant, Hinton faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life, and the other six defendants each face a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
The indictment also charges Hinton with one count of possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and a quantity of protonitazene, which carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and maximum term of imprisonment of life, and Echevarria with one count of possession with intent to distribute protonitazene, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.
Hinton, Payton, and Ogman are currently detained, and Harris, Stephens, Echevarria, and Tyson are released pending trial.
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