El Paso Man Raul Chavez Gets 12 Years for Cocaine Trafficking

Raul Chavez, 57, of El Paso, Texas, is going away for 12 years after a federal judge slammed him with a 144-month prison sentence for trafficking multi-kilogram shipments of cocaine into Connecticut. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer handed down the sentence in New Haven, adding five years of supervised release and a staggering $250,000 fine. The takedown marks the end of a long-running drug pipeline stretching from Mexico to the streets of Hartford.

For over a decade, Chavez ran a ruthless operation funneling 30- to 40-kilogram loads of cocaine from Mexico through El Paso and into Connecticut, supplying major distributors in the Hartford area since at least 2004. The DEA’s investigation peeled back the layers of a well-oiled machine—regular shipments, encrypted communications, and cash-laden meetups at parking lots and restaurants. This wasn’t small-time dealing. This was a cartel-level network with American roots.

In July 2014, the operation reached for more. Andrew Duron, aka “Chavo,” met a DEA confidential source in North Carolina, seeking up to 50 kilos at $28,000 per kilo. By August 14, Duron agreed to buy 25 kilos for $725,000 in a sting setup with an undercover agent in New Jersey. He even pushed for a side deal—$1,000 extra per kilo. The money, destined for Tyshawn Welborn, aka “Black,” of Bloomfield, and Todd Vernon of Hartford—who’d already prepaid for 13 kilos—was moving fast.

On August 22, Chavez and associates met Welborn at an East Windsor restaurant to lock in the cash handoff. The next day, Duron and the undercover agent drove to a Wethersfield rendezvous, then headed to a parking lot on Kennedy Road near Bradley International Airport. There, Chavez and crew waited. A Jeep Wrangler rolled in. A man stepped out, flashed a duffel bag, and said it held “half” the cash. Seconds later, DEA swarmed the lot. Chavez, Duron, and three associates went down hard.

Inside the Jeep: $284,000 in fresh bills—picked up from Welborn earlier that day—and a loaded .38 caliber revolver. The cache was part of the $725,000 deal. But the network didn’t die on the pavement. Word reached Chavez’s son, Christopher Chavez, who immediately rerouted a 34-kilo shipment en route to Connecticut—diverting it to a high-level distributor in Cleveland, Ohio. The operation kept churning, even as the feds closed in.

Chavez has been locked up since his arrest. On March 11, 2016, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilos or more of cocaine. He’s not alone. Duron was sentenced to 84 months on September 22, 2015. Christopher Chavez got 60 months on October 7, 2016. Welborn took 84 months on December 21, 2016. Todd Vernon still awaits his turn. The DEA’s Hartford Task Force, with agents from Bristol, Hartford, Manchester, and beyond, led the years-long probe that finally cut the head off this snake.

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