West Hartford Cocaine Dealer Sentenced To Prison: Feds

WEST HARTFORD, CT — A West Hartford cocaine dealer was sent to prison for nearly a decade and a half after his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport Friday.

Marc H. Silverman, acting U.S. attorney for Connecticut, said Joseph Giovanni Soto, 34, of West Hartford, was sentenced Friday to 14 years behind bars, followed by five years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, an investigation led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Narcotics and Bulk Cash Trafficking Task Force identified a cocaine trafficking operation.

That operation, Silverman said, involved the shipment of parcels containing kilogram quantities of cocaine from U.S. Post Offices in Puerto Rico to various “drop addresses” in New Britain and Meriden, as well as addresses in Holyoke, Mass., and West Springfield, Mass.

He said the organization used “runners” to pick up the parcels from the drop addresses and deliver them to Soto’s residence in Bloomfield at the time and the residence of Soto’s uncle, Ramon Soto, in New Britain.

Typically, Ramon Soto, at Joseph Soto’s direction, then delivered the cocaine to individuals in the Bronx, N.Y., and elsewhere, in return for payment, authorities said.

During the investigation, task force members intercepted and seized 10 suspicious parcels, each of which contained approximately 2 kilograms of cocaine, and identified approximately 280 suspicious parcels likely containing kilogram quantities of cocaine delivered to the various drop addresses, Silverman said.

Joseph Soto was arrested on May 1, 2023.

On that date, investigators conducted a court-authorized search of his residence and seized two loaded firearms, a drum magazine, ammunition, body armor, approximately 2 kilograms of cocaine, drug packaging material, and approximately $12,000 in cash.

One of the seized firearms was fitted with a switch making it fully automatic, and investigators also found a second, uninstalled switch, Silverman said.

A search of Ramon Soto’s residence on that date revealed a loaded Ruger handgun, firearm magazines, ammunition, two money counters, a digital scale with cocaine residue, and more than $1,000 in cash.

On Feb. 7, Joseph Soto pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Released on a $100,000 bond, he is required to report to prison June 25.

Ramon Soto pleaded guilty to a related charge and, on Jan. 8, was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment.

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