A man from Long Beach has been sentenced to federal prison for trafficking drugs from California to Connecticut, the Department of Justice announced.
According to the DOJ, 37-year-old Jonathan Garcia, also known as “Gordo,” was given a six-and-a-half-year sentence on Wednesday. He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine in August 2025.
The investigation into Garcia began all the way back in 2022, federal officials said, when the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began investigating a “large-scale” drug ring that funneled contraband from Mexico to Connecticut via California. It was found that “kilogram quantities” of fentanyl and cocaine were being distributed in the Hartford, Connecticut area.
“The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps, physical and electronic surveillance, controlled purchases of narcotics, and other investigative techniques, revealed that the organization was receiving narcotics from sources in California via Mexico,” the DOJ said. “The investigation further revealed that that members of the Loose Cannonz motorcycle club, based in East Hartford, were receiving shipments of fentanyl and cocaine for distribution in the Hartford area.”
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In 2023, officials seized two parcels mailed from a post office in West Hartford, Connecticut, to an address in Southern California; one contained about $6,500 in cash and two new iPhones, while the other contained approximately $38,000 in cash, investigators said.
The probe into the illicit activity led to law enforcement discovering that Garcia and another person were coordinating the shipment of the large quantities of drugs from Mexico to Connecticut. Garcia was said to have traveled to the East Coast to facilitate the transactions and collect drug proceeds, the Justice Department said. He was eventually arrested on Oct. 24, 2023, and he entered a guilty plea in August 2025 before being sentenced Wednesday by a judge in the District of Connecticut.
Out on bond, Garcia, who federal officials say already had a federal cocaine trafficking conviction in California from 2017, is required to report to federal prison on April 22.
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