Rocky Hill Man Pleads Guilty To Fentanyl Distribution

ROCKY HILL, CT — A Rocky Hill man who owns a smoke shop in Hartford will serve at least five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a fentanyl distribution charge.

On Thursday, Sean Thomas, 32, of Rocky Hill pleaded guilty via videoconference to one count of possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut said.

He faces anywhere from five to 40 years in prison, and U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant will sentence him on April 20. He was released on a $100,000 bond, pending sentencing.

In 2020, Hartford Police were investigating Thomas and others for fentanyl and marijuana distribution, the attorney's office said. As part of the investigation, an undercover cop bought marijuana at the smoke shop Thomas owns, Puff Paradise on New Britain Avenue in Hartford.

On June 2, 2020, investigators watched Thomas drive from his Rocky Hill residence to Kenneth Street in Hartford, where he got into a parked Dodge Durango. Police were surveilling Thomas in advance of executing multiple search warrants and believed he was conducting a narcotics transaction, the attorney's office said.

When detectives approached the Durango, its driver, Tafarie Green, drove straight at them, so they leaped out of the way, officials said. He then drove "at a high rate of speed" onto a sidewalk and through two chain link fences before crashing into a tree, the attorney's office said.

Though Green fled the scene on foot, the detectives apprehended Thomas. A search of his house yielded more than 300 grams of unpackaged fentanyl, around 3,500 bags of packaged fentanyl, items used to process and package narcotics for street sale, and $16,511 in cash.

Officials found around three pounds of marijuana in Puff Paradise as well. According to OpenCorporates.com, the store was incorporated on Feb. 19, 2020. Its status is listed as "active."

Green, who was on federal supervised release, was arrested on July 13, 2020, the attorney's office said.

He pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and was sentenced to 62 months of imprisonment on Aug. 31, 2021.