United States Drug Enforcement Administration

CONCORD, N.H. – A Dominican man has pleaded guilty in federal court to immigration and drug offenses, U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan announces.

Joel Castillo-Soto, 35, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, specifically methamphetamine, and one count of reentry after deportation. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Samantha Elliot scheduled Castillo-Soto’s sentencing for June 25, 2026. 

According to the court documents and statements made in court, beginning in early 2024, the DEA began an investigation into an unknown individual who was selling multiple-ounce quantities of methamphetamine in the Rochester, New Hampshire area. During the investigation, a DEA cooperating source (or “CS”) communicated with Ariel Castillo-Solano, who was using the identity of Jose Antonio Santiago, an American citizen from Puerto Rico. Between October 21, 2024 and January 10, 2025, the DEA, using a CS and a DEA undercover Task Force Officer negotiated several sales totaling more than five pounds of methamphetamine from Castillo-Solano. Between January 10, 2025 and January 23, 2025, Castillo-Solano arranged to sell the undercover officer an additional 15 pounds of methamphetamine, about 21 ounces cocaine, and 40 grams of fentanyl. They agreed to a purchase price of $69,000. On January 24, 2025, Castillo-Solano met the undercover officer in a parking lot in Seabrook, where Castillo-Solano stated that his “brother,” later identified as the defendant, Joel Castillo-Soto, would be arriving in an Uber to deliver the product. Thereafter, Castillo-Soto arrived and delivered the methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl to the undercover officer, at which point the DEA arrested both Castillo-Solano and Castillo-Soto.

Castillo-Solano pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine on March 12, 2016.

The charge of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance carries a sentence of up to 20 years’ incarceration, not less than 3 years of supervised release, and a fine up to $1,000,000. The charge of illegal reentry after a conviction of a qualifying felony carries a sentence of up to 20 years’ incarceration, not less than 3 years of supervised release, and a fine up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

The Drug Enforcement Administration investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Hunter is prosecuting the case.  

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. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).