Area Man Gets 5+ Years in Prison For Role in Oxycodone Trafficking

This article was posted by Ronald DeRosa. It was written by Hamden Patch Editor Kathleen Ramunni.

A Hamden man was sentenced Thursday to more than five years in federal prison for his part in trafficking oxycodone as a result of an investigation in which Wallingford Police played a part.

United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport sentenced Michael Marchitto Jr., 30, of Hamden, to 66 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release "for leading a New Haven-area drug ring that trafficked in oxycodone, a powerful prescription pain killer," according to a release from Federal Judicial Department spokesman Thomas Carson.

"This matter stems from 'Operation Big Blue,' a year-long investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Task Force into Marchitto’s oxycodone trafficking operation," Carson said. Court-authorized wiretaps, physical surveillance, and controlled purchases and seizures of oxycodone were part of the investigation that has already taken down 16 others, he said.

"Marchitto and his associates were involved in the distribution of substantial quantities of oxycodone in and around New Haven," Carson said in a release Thursday. "Marchitto and others regularly traveled, at Marchitto’s expense, to Florida, where they obtained prescriptions for large amounts of oxycodone at unscrupulous pain clinics, commonly referred to as 'pill mills.'

"He also arranged to have three Florida residents ship bulk quantities of oxycodone to him on a regular basis. Marchitto sold most of the pills that he and his associates were able to acquire to an established network of redistributors in Connecticut."

He was arrested on April 7, 2011, when was found in possession of about 2,000 oxycodone pills, Carson said. On July 29, 2011, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone and one count of money laundering. He also has forfeited a 2010 Acura TL that he purchased using about $44,000 in drug proceeds.

The DEA New Haven Task Force, including personnel from the New Haven, West Haven, Ansonia, Meriden, Hamden, Branford, and Wallingford Police Departments, and the United States Marshals Service investigated the case.