Man sentenced for trafficking Mexican-sourced heroin, fentanyl, and crack into CT

BRIDGEPORT, CT (WFSB) - A man was sentenced for trafficking an array of drugs sourced from Mexico into Connecticut.

Jason Cox, 50, formerly of Bridgeport and Savannah, GA, was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison, according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s “Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force” began investigating an organization that was distributing heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine in an around Bridgeport.

During the investigation, task force members made four controlled purchases of heroin and fentanyl from a man named Frank Best.

“The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and hundreds of consensual recordings, revealed that Frank Best’s uncles, Wallace Best and Jeffrey Thomas, were supplying Frank Best and others with narcotics,” Avery said.

The investigation revealed that Jeffrey Thomas worked with Cox to establish a connection to Mexican-sourced drug suppliers in California who could provide kilogram quantities of narcotics for distribution on the east coast.

In Dec. 2019, a cooperating source worked in conjunction with Wallace Best, Thomas, and Cox, to travel to a Home Depot parking lot in San Diego and purchased from their suppliers 1.1 kg of fentanyl, cut with Xylazine, which is a veterinary sedative, and Tramadol, in exchange for $27,000.

After the successful transaction, Avery said the conspirators arranged to purchase 5 kg of heroin from their Mexican suppliers. On Feb. 10, 2020, four people were arrested after they arrived at the same parking lot to conduct the transaction and investigators seized a box containing approximately 4.9 kg of heroin. A related search of a storage locker in San Diego revealed an additional 5 kg of heroin.

On Oct. 14, 2022, a jury found Wallace Best, Thomas, and Cox guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin and fentanyl. Wallace Best, Thomas, and Frank Best were found guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine. Also, Frank Best was found guilty of five counts of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine.

Wallace Best, Thomas and Frank Best await sentencing.

Cox has been detained since his arrest on Feb. 11, 2020.