A man who dragged a police officer from a vehicle trying to elude police when he was found in a vehicle with a gun has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for trafficking firearms.
Diego Ezequiel Garro, 24, of New Haven appeared Monday in federal court in Bridgeport where U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley sentenced him to 90 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
Federal officials said investigators with the West Haven Police Department arrested Garro on Feb. 18, 2023, after he was found sleeping in a parked vehicle that had a 9mm handgun with an extended magazine containing 34 rounds of ammunition on the passenger seat. During the arrest, he tried to flee from police and dragged an officer several feet, according to officials
Once Garro was taken into custody, officers retrieved the firearm and searched the vehicle, finding “distribution quantities” of fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana as well as drug packaging materials, scales and about $1,300, officials said.
Investigators later found that, in December 2022 and January 2023, an individual had purchased the handgun at Garro’s direction, officials said. The same individual also bought “at least four” other semi-automatic handguns and traded them to Garro in exchange for narcotics, officials said.
Garro, who has been detained since October 2024, took a plea deal last August, pleading guilty to four counts of firearm trafficking and two counts of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, controlled substances.
