NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:  Wednesday, September 7, 2005
U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney District of Connecticut
Connecticut Financial Center
157 Church Street , P.O. Box 1824
New Haven, Connecticut   06510             www.usdoj.gov/usao/ct       

CONTACT: Tom Carson, Public Information Office, (203) 821-3722, (203) 996-1393 (cell)  

MAN INVOLVED IN HARTFORD CRACK RING SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON

        Kevin J. O’Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that LARRY ACOFF, age 42, of 359 Garden St., Apt. 10, Hartford, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Alfred V. Covello in Hartford to 37 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute between five and 20 grams of cocaine base (“crack” cocaine).  ACOFF pleaded guilty to the charge on May 3, 2005.

        ACOFF’s conviction stems from a 10-month investigation, code named “Operation Big Boy,” that included wiretaps on nine different telephones, months of surveillance, and numerous purchases and seizures of crack cocaine in Hartford.  According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, ACOFF admitted that he purchased crack cocaine from Maurice Bennefield on a regular basis, sometimes brokering deals for a crack dealer who lived in his apartment building so that he could receive free quantities of crack for his personal use.

        Bennefield has pleaded guilty to his role in this narcotics conspiracy and is currently scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Covello on December 12, 2005.

        This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Hartford Police, with the assistance of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Connecticut State Police, the United States Marshal Service, the Windsor Police Department, the Connecticut Judicial Marshals, the Hartford Housing Authority, the Meriden Police Department, the Wallingford Police Department, the South Windsor Police Department and the Manchester Police Department.

        Assistant United States Attorneys Raymond F. Miller, Robert M. Spector, and Dave Vatti are prosecuting these cases.

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Contact:   Nancy Mulroy, Public Information Officer, Hartford Police Department,  (860) 543-8746
Visit www.hartford.gov for more Hartford Police News
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