A Derby resident, Andre Messam, also known as “Dre,” has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for trafficking methamphetamine and cocaine. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport. In addition to the 72-month prison term, Messam will serve four years of supervised release.
According to court documents and statements made during the proceedings, the FBI’s Transnational Organized Crime Task Force conducted two controlled purchases from Messam in May and June 2023. These transactions involved approximately 80 grams of methamphetamine and five grams of cocaine. Laboratory analysis confirmed that the methamphetamine was 100 percent pure.
Investigators later arranged a purchase of a kilogram of cocaine from Messam. On July 19, 2023, while traveling to meet for this transaction, Messam attempted to evade law enforcement officers who tried to stop his vehicle in North Haven. He was arrested later that day at a rental car agency on the Berlin Turnpike in Newington with about $7,200 in cash.
Surveillance video reviewed two weeks after his arrest showed Messam discarding an object from his car onto an entrance ramp to I-91 North. Investigators searched the area and recovered a kilogram brick of cocaine wrapped in cellophane.
Messam pleaded guilty on May 20, 2024, to possession with intent to distribute and distribution of five grams or more of methamphetamine.
His criminal record includes prior state convictions as well as a federal conviction for heroin trafficking. In June 2011, he received a sentence of 105 months in Hartford federal court; this was reduced to 81 months in March 2015 following amendments to federal sentencing guidelines.
Messam is currently released on a $250,000 bond and must report to prison on January 6. The investigation involved the FBI’s Transnational Organized Crime Task Force with support from the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division and police departments from Brookfield and New Milford. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel J. Gentile prosecuted the case.
“David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANDRE MESSAM, also known as ‘Dre,’ 49, of Derby, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 72 months of imprisonment and four years of supervised release for distributing methamphetamine and cocaine.”
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