BRISTOL, Conn. – A 31-year-old Bristol man, Terry Collins, was sentenced Tuesday to six years in federal prison for trafficking fentanyl and defrauding the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Court records show Collins supplied fentanyl to Gawayne Fisher, a narcotics trafficker operating in Waterbury while on supervised release. Collins, Fisher, and two others were arrested in April 2023 after a significant drug seizure.
Authorities searched a Yale Street location in Waterbury and found:
3 kilograms of loose fentanyl
75,000 bags containing fentanyl
A second search at another stash house uncovered:
16 kilograms of cocaine
3 more kilograms of fentanyl
125,000 individual bags of fentanyl
$7,574 in cash
Investigators also found that Collins submitted fraudulent documents to the Small Business Administration (SBA) in May 2021, claiming his business, Platinum Liquor, employed 14 workers. In reality, the store had only one employee.
Based on these false claims, Collins secured a $149,000 PPP loan meant for struggling businesses during the pandemic.
He pleaded guilty in October 2024 to charges related to drug trafficking and PPP loan fraud.
