Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, has announced the sentencing of Israel Mendoza to 84 months in prison. Mendoza, also known as "D-Nice" and "Israel Mandosa," was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport for trafficking heroin and cocaine into Connecticut. This will be followed by three years of supervised release.
Court documents reveal that in 2018, a Hartford area narcotics trafficking operation was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force. Mendoza supplied large quantities of cocaine to Michael Copeland of Bloomfield, who, under Mendoza’s direction, mailed drug proceeds to California. In September and October of that year, cash parcels totaling approximately $26,000 were seized by U.S. Postal Inspectors in California. Numerous other parcels believed to hold narcotics or drug proceeds were identified through postal records.
In February 2019, investigators intercepted a parcel containing nearly 500 grams of cocaine, purportedly mailed from California to an address linked to Copeland in Bloomfield. Mendoza collaborated with others, including Neliobet DeJesus and Danny Rhodes, distributing heroin and cocaine in Hartford. A parcel destined for Orlando, Florida, was found carrying approximately 500 grams of cocaine and five grams of fentanyl during the investigation.
A grand jury in Hartford indicted Mendoza, Copeland, DeJesus, and Rhodes on October 31, 2019, for narcotics trafficking offenses. Mendoza remained a fugitive until his arrest in California on August 14, 2023. He pleaded guilty on October 1, 2024, to conspiracy charges related to the distribution of heroin and cocaine and has been in detention since his arrest.
Copeland, DeJesus, and Rhodes had all pleaded guilty earlier. Their sentences are as follows: Rhodes received 87 months on December 8, 2021; Copeland, 30 months on December 16, 2021; and DeJesus, 30 months on March 7, 2022.
The investigation was handled by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s task force, alongside law enforcement agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, Connecticut State Police, and local police departments. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone.