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According to Vanessa Roberts Avery, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut, a federal jury in Bridgeport found the five men guilty of narcotics trafficking offenses on Friday, Oct. 14:
The five, all of Bridgeport, are:
- Wallace Best, also known as “Coop,” age 55
- Jeffrey Thomas, also known as “Zig,” age 49
- Jason Cox, age 48, also of Savannah, Georgia as well as Bridgeport
- Frank Jamont Best, also known as “JB,” and “Cash,” age 49
- Lamont D. Jefferies, age 55
According to court documents, in 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force began investigating an organization that was distributing heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine in and around Bridgeport.
During the investigation, task force members made four controlled purchases of heroin and fentanyl from Frank Best, according to statements made in court.
The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and hundreds of consensual recordings, revealed that Best’s uncles, Wallace Best and Jeffrey Thomas, were supplying Frank Best and others with narcotics, court documents showed.
In addition, Lamont Jefferies received heroin from Best, which he distributed to his customers.
The investigation further revealed that Jeffrey Thomas worked with Jason Cox to establish a connection to Mexican-sourced drug suppliers in California who could provide kilogram quantities of narcotics for distribution on the East Coast.
In December 2019, a cooperating source working in conjunction with Wallace Best, Thomas, and Cox, traveled to a Home Depot parking lot in San Diego and purchased from their suppliers 1.1 kilograms of fentanyl, cut with Xylazine, which is a veterinary sedative, and Tramadol, in exchange for $27,000, according to court documents.
After this successful transaction, the conspirators arranged to purchase five kilograms of heroin from their Mexican suppliers, court statement shows.
In February 2020, four individuals were arrested after they arrived at the same parking lot to conduct the transaction and investigators seized a box containing approximately 4.9 kilograms of heroin, court documents show.
A related search of a storage locker in San Diego revealed an additional five kilograms of heroin, officials said.
The jury found Wallace Best, Thomas, and Cox guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute kilogram quantities of heroin and fentanyl, and Wallace Best, Thomas, Frank Best, and Jefferies guilty of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute heroin, fentanyl and cocaine base (“crack”).
In addition, Frank Best was found guilty of five counts of possession with intent to distribute, and distribute, heroin, fentanyl, and cocaine base.
The jury also found that Wallace Best, Thomas, and Cox had previously been convicted of serious drug felonies, exposing each of them to enhanced sentences.
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