Deported Dealer Back Behind Bars

⏱ 3 min read

Seabrook, NH – Joel Castillo-Soto, 35, a Dominican national previously deported, is staring down the barrel of a long federal sentence after getting caught peddling enough hard drugs to poison a city. The bust went down January 24th, 2025, capping a months-long DEA investigation into a serious meth operation. Castillo-Soto and his accomplice were collared during a deal gone bad.

The DEA began sniffing around the operation in early 2024. An informant and an undercover agent managed to purchase over five pounds of meth from Ariel Castillo-Solano, who was posing as a U.S. citizen. They then brokered a larger deal: $69,000 for 15 more pounds of meth, 21 ounces of coke, and 40 grams of fentanyl. That’s enough to level a town.

The final exchange went down in a Seabrook parking lot. Castillo-Soto, thinking he was about to make a killing, arrived in an Uber only to be greeted by federal agents. Castillo-Solano was also taken into custody. It wasn’t his first rodeo – court records show he already pleaded guilty to meth trafficking back in March 2016.

Castillo-Soto admitted to illegally re-entering the country while slinging drugs. Chief U.S. District Judge Samantha Elliot has set sentencing for June 25, 2026. He’s looking at a significant stretch for both the drug charges and the immigration violation. This wasn’t some small-time operation; these guys were moving serious weight.