Hartford Dealer Roman Pantojas Cops to Guns, Heroin

Seven hundred baggies of heroin, two loaded handguns, and nearly $2,400 in cash—this was the grim haul when federal agents stormed the Hartford home of Roman Pantojas on May 23, 2014. The 28-year-old, a convicted felon, wasn’t just dealing drugs—he was trading them for guns, fueling a deadly underground economy that fed addiction and violence in the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.

U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant wasted no time handing down justice: 74 months behind bars, followed by five years of supervised release. Pantojas, of Hartford, pleaded guilty on July 28, 2014, to two federal counts—possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon and possession with intent to distribute heroin. The sentence reflects the federal crackdown on repeat offenders who traffic in both narcotics and weapons.

The raid that brought Pantojias down was a coordinated strike by the ATF, DEA, Connecticut State Police, and Hartford Police Department. They moved in with a federal search warrant and found the drugs and firearms stashed inside his residence. But the deeper truth revealed in court was even darker: Pantojas was not only selling heroin—he was arming himself with guns traded by his own customers.

One such customer, Justin Ashline, admitted to stealing a firearm from his employer and flipping it to Pantojas for 20 bags of heroin and between $70 and $100 in cash. That transaction alone highlights the toxic pipeline between street drugs and illegal firearms. Ashline has since pleaded guilty and is now incarcerated, closing one loop in a cycle of crime that devastates communities.

As a convicted felon, Pantojas had no legal right to possess a firearm—let alone two loaded ones. Yet, he exploited the desperation of users and the availability of stolen weapons to build a dangerous operation. The $2,400 seized during the raid underscores the profitability of his trade, a profit built on addiction, theft, and the ever-present threat of violence.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert M. Spector, who emphasized the federal commitment to targeting drug traffickers armed with weapons. With support from multiple law enforcement agencies, the conviction sends a clear message: those who traffic in heroin and hoard guns will face severe consequences. For Roman Pantojas, that consequence is more than six years in federal prison—time to reckon with the damage he helped spread on Hartford’s streets.