Convicted for drug trafficking, identity fraud, money laundering

Durrant Pate/Contributor

A Jamaica man has been sentenced to 32 years in prison in Hartford, Connecticut federal court for narcotics trafficking, passport fraud, identity fraud and money laundering offences. 

He is 45-year-old Oneil Wilks, who has been living under a false identity in California, as he supplied large amounts of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine to individuals, who were distributing the narcotics in and around Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Evidence presented during Wilks’ trial revealed that multiple people, including Louie McDowell were arrested by members of the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force in November 2018, who were distributing the drugs in Connecticut. In the process of investigating McDowell, they were alerted to Wilks.

Deported but re-entered America illegally

According to prosecutors, Wilks was removed from the U.S. to Jamaica in February 2014 but returned illegally using stolen identification information to apply for and receive a Florida’s driver’s license in 2015 and a U.S. passport in 2016. They say Wilks used his fraudulently obtained passport to travel to overseas destinations such as Japan and Thailand.

A release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut indicates that Wilks was stopped by law enforcement in southern California in April 2019 while using his stolen identity. Prosecutors led evidence that he had five kilograms of suspected cocaine in the car he was driving.

As the investigations into Wilks continued, investigators seized a package in July 2019 that contained six kilograms of cocaine that was being mailed from California to Connecticut. He was arrested on August 5, 2019.

Authorized searches of two residences 

Prosecutors say court-authorized searches of two residences and a vehicle connected to Wilks yielded discoveries of around four kilograms of fentanyl/xylazine, items used to process and package narcotics, false identifications and over $160,000 in cash.

On December 22, 2021, a jury found Wilks guilty of one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of heroin, five kilograms or more of cocaine and 400 grams or more of fentanyl, one count of making false statement in a passport application, one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He has been in custody since his arrest. Prosecutors report that multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in the investigation. These include the FBI’s Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, the DEA, Connecticut State Police and the Bridgeport, Stratford, Norwalk, Seymour and Trumbull Police Departments.

Furthermore, the investigation was assisted by law enforcement in California such as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Task Force Group 44, the Orange County Sheriff’s Regional Narcotics Suppression Program, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Culver City Police Department, the release says.

The case was prosecuted through the Organised Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Program, which prosecutors say identifies, disrupts and dismantles drug traffickers, money launders, gangs and transnational criminal organizations.