West Haven Man Sentenced For Role In Counterfeit Pill Manufacturing & Distribution Operation: Feds

WEST HAVEN, CT — A West Haven man has been sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for his role in a counterfeit pill manufacturing and distribution operation, according to officials.

Shawn Stephens, 35, was sentenced Monday in Hartford federal court to 97 months in prison and three years of supervised release for his participation in the large-scale manufacture and trafficking of counterfeit pills containing synthetic opioids and other substances, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut David X. Sullivan announced.

Prosecutors said the matter stemmed from an investigation led by the DEA New Haven’s Tactical Diversion Squad and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service “targeting the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit oxycodone, Xanax, and Adderall tablets containing methamphetamine, protonitazene, dimethylpentylone, xylazine, and other substances,” according to a news release.

Protonitazene is a Schedule I synthetic opioid that is three times more potent than fentanyl, officials said.

“In June 2023, law enforcement received information that Stephens’ co-conspirator, Kelldon Hinton, was using a pill press to manufacture large quantities of counterfeit pills containing controlled substances,” officials wrote in the news release. “Through the use of physical and electronic surveillance, the seizure and searches of parcels sent through the U.S. Mail and commercial delivery services, undercover purchases of counterfeit pills, trash pulls, and other investigative methods, investigators determined that Hinton, with the assistance of Stephens and others, was purchasing protonitazene, dimethypentalone, xylazine, other substances, and pill press parts from China and elsewhere, using tableting machines (“pill presses”) to manufacture counterfeit pills in a garage he rented in East Haven, marketing and selling the pills on the dark web, and mailing pills to customers around the U.S.

“In text messages, Hinton referred to the rented garage as his ‘lab.’ Between February 2023 and February 2024, Hinton shipped more than 1,300 packages through the U.S. Mail. Hinton also distributed the counterfeit pills to associates in Connecticut, who sold them to their own customers.”

Hinton, Stephens, and other co-conspirators were arrested on Sept. 5, 2024. On that date, investigators conducted court-authorized searches of several locations, including the garage located on Tyler Street Extension in East Haven, which yielded approximately one million narcotic pills weighing nearly 100 kilograms, approximately 300 grams of cocaine, two large pill presses, pill manufacturing equipment, drug ledgers, and other items, according to officials.

Officials said one of the pill presses seized was capable of producing 100,000 pills per hour.

The investigation subsequently found that Hinton rented a unit at a storage facility in West Haven.

On Sept. 18, 2024, a court-authorized search of the storage unit found “hundreds of thousands of additional narcotic pills weighing nearly 100 kilograms,” according to officials.

Officials said Stephens helped Hinton maintain both his garage lab and storage facility, and he mailed customer orders for Hinton.

Stephens pleaded guilty in October to conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances. Stephens, who was released on a $100,000 bond, is required to report to prison on July 30.

Hinton pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, according to officials.