Raul Chavez, Cocaine Conspiracy, Connecticut 2021

Raul Chavez, a 62-year-old El Paso, Texas resident, was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine in a federal trial in New Haven. The jury delivered the verdict on Friday morning after a trial that began on September 7.

According to evidence presented at trial, Chavez headed a cocaine trafficking operation that smuggled the drug from Mexico into El Paso, Texas, and then transported it to Connecticut and other locations. The investigation revealed that the Chavez organization supplied multiple kilograms of cocaine to Hartford-area distributors for approximately 10 years, with shipments ranging from 30 to 40 kilograms and sent regularly from El Paso multiple times per year.

In 2014, the Chavez organization attempted to find an additional source of supply for its Hartford area cocaine customers. In July 2014, a DEA confidential source met Andrew Duron, also known as “Chavo,” in North Carolina, where Duron expressed interest in purchasing up to 50 kilograms of cocaine for $28,000 per kilogram. The following month, Duron, the confidential source, and an undercover DEA agent met in New Jersey, where Duron agreed to purchase 25 kilograms of cocaine for $700,000.

The investigation revealed that the cocaine shipment was destined for Tyshawn Welborn, also known as “Black,” of Bloomfield, and Todd Vernon of Hartford, the latter of whom prepaid for approximately 13 kilograms of cocaine. On August 22, 2014, Chavez and others met with Welborn at a restaurant in East Windsor to discuss the pick-up of money from Welborn the following day and its delivery to a location to be determined.

On August 23, 2014, Duron met the undercover DEA agent at a location in Wethersfield, where he told the agent that his associates were in Connecticut and that they would need to travel to a location near Bradley International Airport to verify that the money was in place. Duron and the undercover agent then drove to a store parking lot on Kennedy Road in Windsor, where a third associate arrived in a Jeep Wrangler, met the undercover agent, and showed him a duffel bag containing “half” of the money. Shortly thereafter, investigators arrived at the scene and arrested Duron, Chavez, and his associates.

Investigators recovered a duffel bag containing approximately $284,000 in cash and a loaded .38 caliber revolver from the Jeep. The cash had been picked up from Welborn earlier that day. After Chavez’s arrest, his son, Christopher Chavez, coordinated the diversion of a shipment of 34 kilograms of cocaine, which was en route to Connecticut, to a high-level drug distributor in Cleveland, Ohio.

Chavez has been detained since his arrest and faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life when he is sentenced on December 8, 2021. Chavez initially admitted his role in the conspiracy and pleaded guilty to the charge in March 2016, but later moved to withdraw his guilty plea and was denied by the court.

In related cases, Andrew Duron, also known as “Chavo,” Tyshawn Welborn, also known as “Black,” of Bloomfield, Todd Vernon of Hartford, and Christopher Chavez were convicted of related charges.

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