A New London man was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 27 months in prison for his role in a southeastern Connecticut heroin trafficking ring, accord to John H. Durham, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

Luis Gonzalez, 48, who was described as a street-level dealer, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford after pleading guilty in June to one count of use of a telephone to facilitate the commission of a drug trafficking felony. He was also sentenced to one year of supervised release.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said the case stems from an investigation into several heroin overdoses in southeastern Connecticut, including two overdose deaths involving a heroin and fentanyl mix in January 2016. The investigation revealed that Michael Luciano operated a drug trafficking organization that distributed heroin to numerous street-level dealers, including Gonzalez, according to the U.S. Attorney.

In December of 2017, a Hartford grand jury returned a 25-count indictment charging Gonzalez, Luciano and 19 others with various heroin trafficking offenses. Gonzalez was arrested two days later and had been held since his arrest.

Luciano of New London pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, one kilogram or more of heroin.