A 27-year-old man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Hartford to 42 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for trafficking heroin, according to an announcement Tuesday from John H. Durham, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. 

An investigation had found that Mario Recinos, 27, a Guatemalan man living in Central Falls, R.I., along with other people, had supplied a New London man, Michael Luciano, with heroin that Luciano then distributed "through a network of street-level dealers in southeastern Connecticut," according to the news release. The investigation was launched following several heroin overdoses in southeastern Connecticut that included two fatalities involving a heroin and fentanyl mix in January 2016, the release stated.

In November 2017, investigators executed 12 search warrants and seized more than 3 kilograms of heroin from involved members, including more than a half-kilogram from Recinos, the release stated. A grand jury in Hartford in Dec. 2017 "returned a 25-count superseding indictment charging Recinos, Luciano and 19 other individuals with various heroin trafficking offenses."

Recinos pleaded guilty in November 2018 to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and faces immigration proceedings upon his release, according to the announcement.

Luciano, who pleaded guilty in June 2018 to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1 kilogram or more of heroin, was sentenced on Jan. 29 to 12 years of imprisonment.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division, Homeland Security Investigations, Connecticut State Police Statewide Narcotics Task Force - East and the New London, Norwich, Waterford, Attleboro, Mass., and Freetown, Mass., police departments investigated the matter. Assistant U.S. Attorneys S. Dave Vatti and Geoffrey M. Stone are prosecuting the case.