Five Charged with Trafficking Cocaine Through the Mail from Puerto Rico (DOJ)

David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, P.J. O'Brien, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI, and Nicholas Bucciarelli, Acting Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division, today announced that the following five individuals have been charged by indictment with offenses related to the trafficking of cocaine through the U.S. Mail from Puerto Rico to Connecticut:

EDGARDO CASTRO PEREZ, 36, of Tolland, Connecticut, and San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico
ROSELYN OSORIO-SOTO, 38, of Tolland, Connecticut, and San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico
EDGAR CASTRO PEREZ, 27, of Hartford
JUAN JOSE TORRES-ORTIZ, 42, of Hartford
ENRIQUE ARROYO-ROBLES, 28, of Hartford

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, in June 2025, the FBI's Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force and U.S. Postal Inspection Service began investigating a drug trafficking organization that was coordinating the shipment of cocaine from Puerto Rico to Connecticut through the U.S. Mail. Typically, Osorio-Soto and Edgardo Castro Perez mailed the cocaine parcels from post offices in Puerto Rico to various addresses in central Connecticut. Torres-Ortiz collected the packages and transported them to secondary locations where Edgar Castro Perez and Arroyo-Robles stored them until the cocaine was distributed further. Members of the organization used residences on Merlot Way in Tolland and Woodland Drive in Hartford to store narcotics, drug paraphernalia, cash, and firearms. During the investigation, investigators identified at least 12 suspicious parcels shipped to Connecticut and seized and searched four parcels, each of which contained multiple kilograms of cocaine.

It is further alleged that on September 17, 2025, Torres-Ortiz picked up a parcel after it had been delivered to an address in Middletown and drove to Hartford where he transferred the parcel to Edgar Castro Perez, who then drove to the residence in Tolland. Investigators stopped Castro Perez in the driveway of the residence and seized the parcel, and found that it contained approximately three kilograms of cocaine. On that date, a court-authorized search of the Tolland residence revealed four automatic firearms, three semi-automatic handguns, gun magazines, ammunition, and $133,292 in cash. A search of the Hartford residence revealed a loaded .45 caliber handgun.

The five defendants were originally charged by federal criminal complaint. Arroyo-Robles was arrested on March 31, 2026; Edgardo Castro Perez, Osorio-Soto, and Edgar Castro Perez were arrested on April 1, 2026; and Torres-Ortiz was arrested on April 2, 2026. Arroyo-Robles possessed a distribution quantity of cocaine and $2,321 in cash at the time of his arrest.

On April 8, 2026, a grand jury in Bridgeport returned an indictment charging each of the defendants with conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute cocaine. If convicted of this charge, based on the quantity of drug attributed to each defendant, Edgardo Castro Perez, Osorio-Soto, and Torres-Ortiz face a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life; Edgar Castro Perez faces a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years; and Arroyo-Robles faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

The indictment also charges Edgar Castro Perez and Torres-Ortiz with possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, 500 grams or more of cocaine, an offense that carries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years and a maximum term of imprisonment of 40 years, and Arroyo-Robles with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of cash and firearms seized during the investigation.

Osorio-Soto, Edgar Castro Perez, Torres-Ortiz and Arroyo-Robles were arraigned on April 22, 2026, entered pleas of not guilty, and are released on $50,000 bonds. Edgardo Castro Perez, who has been detained since his arrest, is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in Hartford federal court.

U.S. Attorney Sullivan stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This ongoing investigation is being conducted by the FBI's Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The Task Force includes members from the Connecticut State Police, the Connecticut Department of Correction, and the East Hartford, Hartford, New Britain, West Hartford, Wethersfield, and Newington Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Durham.

This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.