Ledyard Man Gets 5 Years In Federal Prison For Dealing Cocaine

LEDYARD, CT — Another southeastern Connecticut drug trafficker will be spending years in federal prison, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Jerrord Steele, 31, of Ledyard, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 70 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, for distributing cocaine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2018, the FBI, Norwich Police Department and other law enforcement agencies began investigating a drug trafficking organization that was distributing heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine in southeastern Connecticut.

The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and controlled purchases of narcotics, found that Steele got cocaine from a co-conspirator and then sold it to his own customers.

On March 5, 2019, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Steele and 12 others with narcotics trafficking offenses. Steele has been locked up since his arrest on April 25, 2019. On July 31, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, cocaine.

Steele’s criminal history includes state convictions for attempted first degree assault, conspiracy to commit first degree robbery, burglary third degree, assault third degree, and running from police.

This investigation is being conducted by the FBI, Connecticut State Police and Norwich, Town of Groton and Waterford Police departments, with the assistance of the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office, Baltimore Police Department and Delaware State Police.