Sentence Handed In Drug Case Involving West Hartford Storage Unit

WEST HARTFORD, — A defendant in a federal drug case with ties to a West Hartford storage unit was sentenced to more than six years in prison.

Leonard C. Boyle, acting United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said Thursday that Luis Collazo-Rivera, 40, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 75 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine from Puerto Rico to Connecticut through the U.S. Mail.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2017, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service began investigating a drug trafficking organization that was sending Priority Mail parcels containing kilogram-quantities of cocaine through the U.S. Mail from Puerto Rico to Connecticut and elsewhere.

The investigation revealed that Erick Suarez, of New Britain, coordinated shipments of cocaine from Collazo-Rivera and his associates in Puerto Rico to addresses in New Britain, Hartford, Newington, East Hartford and Bridgeport, as well as Springfield in Massachusetts, case records show.

Investigators identified more than 50 "suspect parcels" that were mailed from Puerto Rico, and intercepted five of the suspect parcels, each of which contained approximately 1 kilogram of cocaine.

On April 10, 2018, investigators arrested Collazo-Rivera and several other members of the cocaine trafficking ring, including Jerry Rodriguez, also known as "Bebo," of Hartford. On that date, a search of Rodriguez’s residence revealed approximately 400 grams of cocaine, approximately 160 grams of heroin, items used to process and package narcotics for street sale, and a loaded .45 caliber handgun, according to case records. Also on that date, investigators searched Suarez's residence, as well as two storage units used by Suarez and one storage unit used by Rodriguez in West Hartford, according to case records.

The search of Suarez’s storage units revealed more than $50,000 in cash and a search of Rodriguez’s storage unit revealed additional items used to process and package narcotics.

Collazo-Rivera has been detained since his arrest.

On April 18, 2018, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Collazo-Rivera, Suarez, Rodriguez and four other individuals with conspiring to distribute cocaine. Collazo-Rivera pleaded guilty on April 8, 2019.

Suarez and Rodriguez also pleaded guilty. On January 15, 2020, Suarez was sentenced to 97 months of imprisonment and, on February 21, 2020, Rodriguez was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment.