United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

NEW CANAAN MAN CHARGED WITH USING TELEPHONE TO MAKE CRACK COCAINE PURCHASES

Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that PATRICK SMITH of Summer Street, New Canaan, Connecticut, has been arrested on a federal criminal Complaint charging him with using a telephone in furtherance of a narcotics trafficking offense.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, on several occasions, SMITH is alleged to have used a cell phone, which was subscribed to his roommate, David Peters, to place orders for crack cocaine.  SMITH then used Peters’ car to meet his alleged crack cocaine supplier in order to pay for and pick up the quantity of drugs that he had ordered.

Last week, David Peters was one of 22 individuals arrested as part of an FBI Safe Streets Task Force Investigation into the distribution of cocaine and crack cocaine in southwestern Connecticut.  Yesterday, it was learned that David Peters was misidentified and that his roommate, SMITH, should have been charged and arrested.

The Government will seek the dismissal of the Indictment against David Peters.

SMITH appeared today before United States Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel and has been ordered detained pending a detention hearing that is scheduled for Monday, March 3.

U.S. Attorney O’Connor stressed that a Complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is entitled to have this matter presented to a grand jury and, in the event an indictment is returned, he is entitled to a trial at which it will be the Government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The investigation was spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Safe Streets Task Force, which is composed of members of federal and local law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, and the Norwalk, Bridgeport, Trumbull and Fairfield Police Departments. The FBI has also received assistance from the Stamford Police Department and the Connecticut State Police.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Lee Dayton of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov