A Hartford man previously convicted in a fatal 2015 shooting was arrested Wednesday afternoon in connection with an investigation into illegal drug sales in the in the Behind the Rocks neighborhood.
Investigators found Jonathan Contrera, 26, inside the Sherbrooke Avenue apartment believed to be at the center of the drug sales alongside a stolen gun, cocaine, crack cocaine, suboxone films and $1,800 cash, Lt. Paul Cicero said.
Contrera was arrested and charged with seven offenses, including criminal possession of a firearm, sale of narcotics and operation of a drug factory, police said.
The apartment near Sherbrooke and Hillside avenues became the focus of an “extensive investigation” into narcotics sale in the area by detectives in the Vice and Narcotics Unit, Cicero said.
Contrera was taken into custody while in the middle of a drug sale, he said.
Officers found the gun, more than 1/2 kilogram of cocaine, 28 grams of crack cocaine, the suboxone and cash inside the apartment, police said.
Contrera was held on $600,000 bond.
Contrera was charged with murder in the fatal May 2015 shooting of Alexis Merrero inside the Cielas Market at on Maple Avenue, but he later pleaded guilty in 2017 to misdemeanor criminally negligent homicide after a series of witnesses to the shooting went missing. Prosecutors instead struck a plea agreement on the reduced charges, including the sale of narcotics.
Zach Murdock can be reached at zmurdock@courant.com.
