United States Drug Enforcement Administration

HARTFORD, Conn. - - Michael J. Ferguson Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Hector Roman, 30, of New Britain, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Roman participated in a drug trafficking organization that shipped kilogram quantities of cocaine in the mail from Puerto Rico for distribution in central Connecticut and western Massachusetts.  Roman retrieved multiple shipments of cocaine from the addresses to which they were sent and provided a storage location for those narcotics at his residence.  Over the course of approximately one year, he was responsible for the receipt and storage of approximately 10 kilograms of cocaine.  Roman and a co-defendant, Melvin Rivera-Lopez, were arrested on January 15, 2015, after they traveled to the U.S. Post Office on Weston Street in Hartford to pick up a package that contained approximately 300 grams of cocaine.  The investigation revealed that Rivera-Lopez was the liaison with the cocaine source of supply in Puerto Rico.  On March 28, 2016, Roman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, 500 grams or more of cocaine.  Rivera-Lopez, 28, of Hartford, pleaded guilty to the same charge and, on June 27, 2016, was sentenced to 65 months of imprisonment.

This matter is being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Connecticut State Police and New Britain Police Department.  The Task Force includes personnel from the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, Wethersfield and Willimantic Police Departments.