Kyle Petersen, a 39-year-old resident of Newington, has been sentenced to over 11 years in prison for trafficking narcotic pills and violating the conditions of his supervised release. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport.
David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Petersen’s sentencing followed an investigation initiated in May 2023 by the DEA New Haven Tactical Diversion Squad. The investigation focused on suspicious packages delivered to Petersen’s residence while he was on federal supervised release after a 2017 conviction for trafficking fentanyl and prescription pills.
Court documents revealed that a court-authorized search of a package mailed to Petersen contained more than 400 grams of pills with Protonitazene, a synthetic opioid more potent than fentanyl. Investigators found that Petersen had received approximately 34 similar packages from Michigan and about 46 packages from California and Oregon suspected to contain marijuana. Controlled purchases of counterfeit Percocet pills containing fentanyl were also made from Petersen’s brother, Erik Peterson.
The arrests of Kyle and Erik Petersen occurred on April 3, 2024. A search of Kyle Petersen’s home uncovered over a kilogram of counterfeit Adderall pills with methamphetamine, counterfeit oxycodone pills with fentanyl, counterfeit Xanax pills, Protonitazene, around 40 grams of cocaine, and $76,650 in cash.
Kyle Petersen has been detained since his arrest and pleaded guilty on April 2, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and Protonitazine. He agreed to forfeit the cash seized from his residence and bank account along with a 2014 Porsche Cayenne.
Judge Dooley sentenced him to 120 months for these offenses plus an additional consecutive term of 18 months for violating supervised release conditions.
Erik Petersen pleaded guilty to related charges and was sentenced on April 29, 2025, to serve 43 months in prison.
The investigation involved the DEA New Haven Tactical Diversion Squad supported by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service as well as New Britain and Newington Police Departments. The case prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan J. Keefe.
