A former New Britain man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Wednesday for trafficking cocaine into Connecticut and Massachusetts from Puerto Rico.
Ramon Soto, 57, of the Bronx, New York faced sentencing in federal court in Bridgeport where a judge ordered that his prison term be followed by four years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
Federal officials said an investigation conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force uncovered a cocaine trafficking operation involving parcels that contained “kilogram quantities of cocaine.” The packages were shipped from post offices in Puerto Rico to “drop addresses” in New Britain and Meriden as well as those in Holyoke and West Springfield, Massachusetts, according to authorities.
Officials said Soto and others picked up the parcels from the drop addresses and delivered them to his New Britain residence or to a co-conspirator’s home. The cocaine was then delivered to individuals in the Bronx in exchange for payment.
During the investigation, the task force intercepted 10 suspicious parcels and found that each of them contained about two kilograms of cocaine, officials said. Task force members were also able to identify about 280 “suspicious parcels” that “likely” contained kilogram quantities of cocaine which were delivered to the various drop addresses.
On May 1, 2023, investigators raided Soto’s residence and reportedly seized a loaded Ruger handgun, magazines, ammunition, two money counters, a digital scale with cocaine residue and more than $1,000, officials said.
Authorities searched the residence of a co-conspirator the same day, reportedly finding two firearms, a drum magazine, ammunition, about two kilograms of cocaine, drug packaging material and about $12,000.
Soto was arrested on Feb. 14. He pleaded guilty during a hearing on Sept. 19 to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.
Following his sentencing, Soto was released on a $50,000 bond. He is required to report to prison on Feb. 26.
