United States Drug Enforcement Administration

HARTFORD, Conn. - 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 today announced that a federal grand jury in Hartford has returned a five-count indictment charging the following five men with narcotics trafficking offenses:

SERGIO HORTA-MOLINA, 46, of Suffield

OCTAVIO RAZON-MEJIA, also known as “Pachas,” 36, of Enfield

CARLOS GUTIERREZ-FERNANDEZ, also known as “Shaggy,” 38, of Enfield

JUAN SANCHEZ-RAZON, also known as “Juanito,” 27, of Enfield

GUILLERMO CAPETILLO-CERVANTES, 34, of Enfield

Horta-Molina, Razon-Mejia and Gutierrez-Fernandez were arrested on federal charges on May 5.  An indictment was returned on May 19 and unsealed on June 21 after Sanchez-Razon and Capetillo-Cervantes were arrested on that date.  Sanchez-Razon and Capetillo-Cervantes appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford and entered pleas of not guilty.  Each defendant is currently detained. 

As alleged in 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, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts.  The organization was believed to be trafficking multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, as well as heroin.  The investigation, which included court-authorized wiretaps and controlled purchases and seizures of narcotics, revealed that Horta-Molina arranged the shipment of cocaine and other narcotics to Connecticut, and then distributed the drugs to other members of the organization who, in turn, sold the drugs to street-level traffickers and drug customers.

It is further alleged that, during the investigation, Horta-Molina arranged the 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.

The indictment charges the five defendants with conspiracy to distribute, and to possess with intent to distribute, controlled substances.  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.

The indictment alleges that Horta-Molina faces enhanced penalties based on a prior federal conviction in the District of New Jersey for conspiring to distribute cocaine and heroin.  Horta-Molina was charged with the offense after a search of his Suffield residence in September 2017 revealed approximately 23 kilograms of cocaine and one kilogram of heroin.  In November 2019, Horta-Molina was sentenced to 40 months of 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 this case.

U.S. Attorney Avery 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 investigation is being conducted by the DEA’s Hartford Task Force and the Enfield Police Department.  The Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police, and the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Enfield, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor Locks and Willimantic Police Departments.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Reed Durham through the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program.  OCDETF identifies, disrupts and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.