Suffield Man, Former Enfield Restaurateur Sentenced On Drug Charges

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A Suffield resident who formerly owned and operated a popular restaurant in Enfield was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 94 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine, and for violating the conditions of his supervised release from a prior narcotics trafficking conviction.

Sergio Horta-Molina, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport after pleading guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. He was sentenced to 70 months of imprisonment for the cocaine offense, and a consecutive 24 months of imprisonment for violating the conditions of his supervised release stemming from a prior conviction for conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin, according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in October 2021, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force began investigating a drug trafficking organization, with ties to a Mexican drug cartel, operating in the area of Enfield and Springfield, Massachusetts. The organization was believed to be trafficking multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, as well as heroin, Avery said.

The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and controlled purchases and seizures of narcotics, revealed Horta-Molina arranged the shipment of cocaine and other narcotics to Connecticut, then distributed the drugs to other members of the organization who, in turn, sold the drugs to street-level traffickers and drug customers, Avery said.

During the investigation, Horta-Molina arranged the shipment of a package from California to the Enfield home of Juan Sanchez-Razon. On April 27, 2022, Sanchez-Razon delivered the package to another person, who was stopped by law enforcement as he was attempting to deliver the package to Horta-Molina. A search of the package revealed a kilogram of cocaine, Avery said.

Horta-Molina, who formerly owned Molina's Cafe and Molina's Plaza on High Street in Enfield, was previously convicted in New Jersey of conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin, after a search of his Suffield home in Sept. 2017 yielded about 23 kilograms of cocaine and one kilogram of heroin. In Nov. 2019, he was sentenced to 40 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release for that offense; however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, he was released from prison early in May 2020, and was on federal supervised release at the time of his criminal conduct in this case, according to Avery.

Horta-Molina has been detained since his arrest on May 5, 2021, and pleaded guilty on March 10, 2023. Sanchez-Razon pleaded guilty to a related charge and awaits sentencing.