Puerto Rico Man Smuggled Cocaine to CT via U.S. Mail

ROBERTO MUNIZ, 37, of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for running a cross-island cocaine pipeline straight into central Connecticut through the U.S. Mail. The conviction marks the end of a multi-agency dragnet targeting a drug ring that exploited postal services to deliver kilogram-sized bricks of cocaine from Puerto Rico to cities including Bristol, Meriden, and Burlington.

Muniz was sentenced via videoconference by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden, who handed down the 30-month prison term followed by three years of supervised release. The operation, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, uncovered a network that mailed at least five parcels packed with cocaine between July and December 2018—each parcel intercepted before reaching its destination.

Court records show surveillance teams watched as associates, including Miguel Freytes, Marcos Mendez, and Omar Mendez, attempted to pick up seized packages in Connecticut and Worcester, Massachusetts. The deliveries were orchestrated by Muniz, who coordinated the shipment of narcotics from Puerto Rico. Investigators confirmed the packages contained multiple kilogram-sized bricks—high-grade cocaine wrapped and labeled to blend in with routine mail.

The crackdown intensified on January 9, 2019, when federal agents arrested key players in the trafficking ring. Raids turned up approximately 2.5 kilograms of cocaine, narcotics packaging materials, and more than $150,000 in cash. Muniz was apprehended days later in Puerto Rico on January 15, 2019, closing a critical node in the smuggling chain.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment on January 23, 2019, charging Muniz, Freytes, Marcos Mendez, Omar Mendez, and two others with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and related offenses. All four Connecticut-based co-defendants have since pleaded guilty. Muniz entered his guilty plea on July 20, 2020, admitting his role in the interstate drug scheme.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program, which targets major drug traffickers using intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional tactics. The DEA’s Hartford Task Force, which includes the Connecticut State Police and local departments from Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Enfield, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor Locks, and Willimantic, led the investigation, with support from the DEA Puerto Rico Caribbean Corridor Strike Force and U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Newark and San Juan.

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