Drug Murder: Two CT Felons Charged In Brutal 2012 Slaying, Feds Say
Federal officials have charged two men currently serving prison terms for other crimes with kidnapping and killing a Connecticut man in 2012, authorities said.
Melkuan Scott, age 32, and Arthur Stanley, age 33, both formerly of Hartford, were indicted in February on charges of kidnapping resulting in death and causing death with a firearm, the US Attorney for Connecticut announced on Tuesday, April 11. They have both pleaded not guilty.
Investigators said Scott and Stanley kidnapped Serafin Velez in Hartford on Feb. 16, 2012, and shot and killed him near 1 Waverly Park, the…
Human Smuggling Ring: Mexican Nationals Extorted Workers They Smuggled Into CT, Feds Say
Two Mexican citizens smuggled several people to Connecticut for tens of thousands of dollars, and once they reached the state, the victims were extorted and forced to work off an impossible debt, federal authorities said.
Maria Del Carmen Sanchez, age 69, and Apolinar Francisco Paredes Espinoza (aka "Pancho"), age 56, helped illegally bring 10 people from Mexico to Hartford beginning in September, the US Attorney for Connecticut said. Federal investigators arrested them on Wednesday, March 1.
Sanchez and Paredes charged each person between $15,000 and $20,000, a debt they would …
CT Wife, Mom Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison On Drug Charges: Feds
The wife of an accused drug dealer and mother of a convicted drug dealer will spend the next two years in prison after she admitted to selling drugs for her husband after he was arrested, federal prosecutors in Connecticut announced on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
Maria Maldonado, age 50, of Hartford, pleaded guilty to drug charges last year, the US Attorney for Connecticut said. She is out on a $75,000 bond and must report to prison on March 1.
Trouble for Maldonado began in 2021 when the DEA raided her and her husband's home and found 13,000 wax folds of fentanyl, more than 300 loose gr…
CT Tax Preparer Helped Falsify Dozens Of Clients' Returns: Feds
A Connecticut tax preparer is out on bond after a federal court charged him with more than two dozen counts of helping his client falsify tax returns over several years, authorities announced on Tuesday, Jan. 31.
David Etienne, age 48, pleaded not guilty to 25 counts of tax fraud on Monday and was released on a $100,000 bond, the US Attorney for Connecticut announced.
From 2015 through 2019, Etienne ran tax preparation services at Los Maestros Inc, Los Maestros Group, Tax Experts USA, and Tax Experts USA Inc. Prosecutors alleged he helped clients prepare numerous federal ta…
CT Trio Charged With Trafficking Fentanyl
Three Connecticut men were indicted for selling a large amount of fentanyl, which they stored in a West Hartford apartment, after allegedly selling drugs to undercover Hartford Police and FBI agents multiple times between August and October of 2020.
Kyle "Bark" Pitts of West Hartford, 37, Curon "Buck" Johnson of East Hartford, 31, and Jabari Walcott A.K.A. Jabari Walcott-Greene of Hartford, 22, were all indicted for narcotics distribution-related charges on Tuesday, Nov. 17 by a federal grand jury in Hartford, according to U.S. Attorney for Connecticut John H. Durham.
All …
