United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

BRIDGEPORT DRUG TRAFFICKER SENTENCED TO MORE THAN 18 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Nora R. Dannehy, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DOMINGO GUZMAN, 31, last residing on Chamberlain Avenue in Bridgeport, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Judge Peter C. Dorsey in New Haven to 220 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release.  On November 15, 2007, GUZMAN pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

This matter stems from an Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) investigation dubbed Operation Ragdoll, which was spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement Administration in Hartford.  According to statements made in court, GUZMAN ran a Bridgeport-based drug trafficking operation that supplied narcotics to various distributors in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.  In pleading guilty, GUZMAN admitted that he was supplied with kilogram quantities of cocaine, shipped through the U.S. Mail, from various individuals in Puerto Rico.  The investigation revealed that, from February 2006 through May 2006, GUZMAN and Luis Joel Soto-Solivan received several such shipments to addresses in Bridgeport and Fall River, Massachusetts.  On June 1, 2006, law enforcement officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the United States Postal Inspection Service seized a package destined for Fall River and discovered two kilograms of cocaine.  On June 15, 2006, law enforcement officers seized a second package destined for Bridgeport and discovered two more kilograms of cocaine.

GUZMAN has been in federal custody since his arrest on June 20, 2006.  As part of today’s sentence, GUZMAN also was ordered to forfeit approximately $56,000 found in his house at the time of his arrest, and one vehicle.

On June 29, 2006, a federal grand jury in Hartford returned an Indictment charging GUZMAN, Soto-Solivan and 17 other individuals with various narcotics offenses.  All 19 defendants have pleaded guilty.

Soto-Solivan pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine.  On September 27, 2007, Judge Dorsey sentenced him to 262 months of imprisonment.

Acting U.S. Attorney Dannehy commended the law enforcement agents and officers who conducted the investigation and praised their devoted efforts to identify, disrupt and dismantle this substantial narcotics trafficking operation.

This investigation was a collaborative effort of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the New Britain Police Department, and the Fall River (MA) Police Department.  This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert M. Spector and S. Dave Vatti.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov