Keyshon Zimmerman, in a mugshot from 2014.
ANSONIA – A federal investigation led to the arrest of three people accused of trafficking drugs throughout the Naugatuck Valley, including two people in Ansonia.
Keyshon Zimmerman, 39, Robert Smith, 43, and Mahogany Pettway-Stokes, 45, were arrested April 23 on federal charges, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Smith and Pettway-Stokes live in Ansonia.
A federal jury indicted all three on “multiple substantive counts related to the possession and distribution of controlled substances,” the release states. Zimmerman was additionally charged with two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Prosecutors said Zimmerman was the leader of a drug ring selling fentanyl, cocaine, and prescription opioids throughout Ansonia, Derby, and other towns, according to court documents. Both Zimmerman and Smith have previously done time in connection to various drug-related shootings in the Valley.
The charges against Smith and Pettway-Stokes carry up to twenty years in prison. The charges against Zimmerman carry ten years to life.
According to the release, investigators from the FBI organized a series of undercover drug buys between July 2024 and April 2025. Prosecutors said the three sold fentanyl and cocaine, among other drugs.
Investigators searched homes in Ansonia, Derby, and Stratford, including at least one apartment alleged to have been used as a stash house. When Zimmerman’s home in Stratford was searched, investigators allegedly found him attempting to flush fentanyl down the toilet.
“A search of Zimmerman’s residence revealed a large quantity of unpackaged fentanyl and cocaine, drug processing and packaging materials, and approximately $21,000 in cash,” the release states.
A search of two cars associated with Zimmerman found fentanyl, cocaine, narcotic pills, and two handguns, one of which had no serial number.
A search of Pettway-Stokes and Smith’s shared home in Ansonia also turned up two handguns, according to the release.
Zimmerman, Smith, and Pettway-Stokes were all arrested April 23. The Ansonia Police Department wrote on Facebook later that day that “diversionary distraction devices” were used in search warrants connected to the arrests.
Zimmerman’s alleged involvement in the Valley drug trade goes back to at least 2005, when he was accused of shooting up a residence on Anson Street in Derby.
He was shot in the face in New Haven in August 2009, an incident that police said sparked a series of shootings and revenge shootings in Ansonia and Derby.
Zimmerman was also part of a crew police arrested in a multi-town raid in 2010. Shelton police told The Valley Indy at the time Zimmerman and his crew were selling crack cocaine to fund gun purchases.
At the time, Ansonia police had pegged the Zimmerman crew as “the main street-level suppliers of crack-cocaine in Ansonia and the surrounding Valley towns.”
In 2014 Zimmerman was sentenced to 20 years in prison — suspended after serving 10 — in connection to shooting a man in the leg in Waterbury. That crime was drug-related, cops said.
Ansonia police thanked investigators for their assistance in the case.
“The Ansonia Police Department wants to thank our partners at the DEA, FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office along with all those involved in the investigation into the suspects in this case,” a Facebook post reads. “Zimmerman and Smith have victimized Ansonia and surrounding communities with drug dealing and violence for over two decades. They have been arrested/convicted on several occasions but have continued to plague our area with drugs and the violence associated with it. Ansonia is safer today with these indictments and arrests.”
