Hartford drug dealer gets prison; fentanyl confiscated in search
A New Britain man was sentenced Monday in federal court to eight years in prison for distributing fentanyl and crack cocaine in Hartford, according to federal authorities.
Samuel Quiles, 38, also was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to five years of supervised release, federal authorities said.
Federal authorities said, citing court documents and statements made in court, that the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force and Hartford Police in November 2019 started an investigation targeting drug dealers and their drug suppliers who were operating principally in Hartford’s South End.
“The investigation revealed that Quiles, who had a lengthy criminal history, was selling narcotics” in the area of Heath and Rowe streets in Hartford, federal authorities said in a statement. “Between January and March 2020, investigators made controlled purchases of distribution quantities of fentanyl and crack from Quiles and a 16-year-old juvenile he employed.”
Quiles was arrested on March 4, 2020, on a state warrant charging him with firearm and reckless endangerment offenses “related to a shooting incident that occurred in January 2019,” federal authorities said in the statement. “While detained in state custody, Quiles arranged for his girlfriend, Iris Colon, to continue his narcotics trafficking activities.”
Colon was arrested on April 15, 2020, and a search of Quiles’ and Colon’s residence turned up 130 grams of fentanyl and drug paraphernalia, federal authorities said.
Quiles has been detained since his state arrest and he pleaded guilty in federal court on Feb. 22 to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and distribution of, 40 grams of fentanyl and a detectable amount of cocaine base, federal authorities said.
Colon pleaded guilty to the same charge on Feb. 24 and awaits sentencing.
The FBI’s Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force includes members of the Hartford, East Hartford, New Britain, West Hartford police departments, Connecticut State Police and the state Department of Correction. “The Hartford Police Department’s Vice and Narcotics Division provided valuable assistance to the investigation,” the statement said.
