Suffield Resident Among 5 Charged With Narcotics Trafficking Offenses

HARTFORD, CT — A federal grand jury in Hartford on Thursday returned a 5-count indictment charging five men, including four from Enfield, with narcotics trafficking offenses, according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, and Enfield Police Chief Alaric Fox.

The Enfield residents charged are Octavio "Pachas" Razon-Mejia, 36; Carlos "Shaggy" Gutierrez-Fernandez, 38; Juan "Juanito" Sanchez-Razon, 27; and Guillermo Capetillo-Cervantes, 34. Also charged is Sergio Horta-Molina, 46, of Suffield. The indictment charges each with conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, controlled substances.

Horta-Molina, Razon-Mejia and Gutierrez-Fernandez were arrested May 5 on federal charges on May 5. An indictment was returned May 19, and unsealed on June 21 after Sanchez-Razon and Capetillo-Cervantes were arrested on that date, Avery said.

Sanchez-Razon and Capetillo-Cervantes appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford and entered pleas of not guilty. Each defendant is currently detained, Avery said.

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, it was found Horta-Molina arranged shipment of a package from California to Sanchez-Razon’s Enfield residence. On April 27, 2022, Sanchez-Razon delivered the package to Gutierrez-Fernandez. Law enforcement subsequently stopped Gutierrez-Fernandez as he was attempting to deliver the package to Horta-Molina. A search of the package revealed more than one kilogram of cocaine, Avery said.

If convicted of this charge, based on the type and quantity of narcotics involved, Horta-Molina, Razon-Mejia and Gutierrez-Fernandez face a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years, and Sanchez-Razon and Capetillo-Cervantes face a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years. Each defendant is also charged in one or more counts related to the possession and distribution of narcotics, according to Avery.

The indictment says Horta-Molina faces enhanced penalties based on a prior federal conviction in New Jersey for conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin. He was charged with the offense after a search of his Suffield residence in Sept. 2017 revealed about 23 kilograms of cocaine and one kilogram of heroin, Avery said.

In Nov. 2019, Horta-Molina was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment and five years of supervised release for that offense. He was released from prison in July 2020, and was on federal supervised release at the time of his arrest in the current case, Avery said.

The investigation is being conducted by the DEA’s Hartford Task Force and the Enfield Police Department.