HARTFORD, Conn. — A federal jury indicted five people Thursday on fentanyl trafficking charges that took place within the past two years, according to the state's U.S. Attorney.
Addely Rosario-Ramirez, 24, and Luis Elvis Hernandez-Rivas, 43, both of the Dominican Republic, Hugo Ivan Ramirez-Bellozo, 32, of Mexico, Juan Gonzalez-Reyes, 32, of Hartford, and Mario Pascual-Aquino, 42, of Torrington pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
The DEA's Hartford Task Force was investigating the Hartford-based distribution of a large amount of fentanyl and other narcotics, which led to cash proceeds laundering, court documents alleged.
In April 2021, Rosario-Ramirez allegedly gave more than $56,000 in what was believed to be drug proceeds to an undercover police officer. And in January 2022, police conducted a traffic stop and seized $92,000 from a minivan Rosario-Ramirez was driving and Hernandez-Rivas was a passenger in.
Investigators then searched an apartment on Putnam Heights in Hartford on Nov. 16, 2022, and took more than a kilogram of fentanyl, items used to process and package narcotics, and a loaded .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun. Everyone in the apartment, including Rosario-Ramirez, Hernandez-Rivas, Ramirez-Bellozo, and Pascual-Aquino, was arrested at that time.
Gonzalez-Reyes arrived a the apartment during the search and was arrested; he was found to have fentanyl on him.
The five face conspiracy to distribute and possession charges.
Rosario-Ramirez, Hernandez-Rivas and Ramirez-Bellozo are detained, and Gonzalez-Reyes and Pasqual Aquino are released on $100,000 bonds.
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