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Carlos “Joel” Colon, 35, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker, Daly said Tuesday.
Colon’s arrest sprung from “Operation Samson,” an initiative headed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Bridgeport and New Haven police departments, Daly said.
The covert operation targeted violent criminals, illegal firearm possession and firearm trafficking, she said.
According to court documents and testimony, the ATF began investigating Carlos “Joel” Colon and his brother, Carlos “Camby” Colon, who police said are known narcotics and firearm traffickers in Bridgeport, in March 2014.
Police had received information that Carlos “Joel” Colon was interested in committing an armed robbery of a drug dealer, Daly said.
According to Daly, an undercover ATF agent was deployed and investigators found that the Colon brothers had recruited others in their plan to rob what they believed was a cocaine stash house.
The Colons, Humberto Soto, Markus Mendez, Nelson Diaz, Trevor Pierce and Hiram “Gringo” Mojica, all of Bridgeport, were arrested April 11, 2014 after they gathered at a location in Stamford and waited to be told the house’s location, Daly said.
Police searched a car that Diaz, Pierce and Mojica had driven to the scene, Daly said, and discovered a loaded .40-caliber pistol, an EO Tech sight, black gloves, and two rolls of duct tape.
A search of the vehicle that Soto and Mendez drove to the meet-up spot revealed a loaded 9 mm pistol, black clothing and a baseball bat, Daly said.
A subsequent search of an auto-detailing business in Bridgeport where the Colon brothers worked revealed several dozen rounds of ammunition, a small amount of crack cocaine, two digital scales and narcotics packaging materials, Daly said.
Carlos “Joel” Colon, who has been detained since April, 2014, pleaded guilty in March 2015 to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Carlos “Camby” Colon, Soto, Diaz, Mendez, Pierce and Mojica also pleaded guilty, Daly said. Mendez pleaded guilty only to the conspiracy charge; the other five men pleaded guilty to both the conspiracy and the firearm charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Soto was sentenced to seven years in prison; Diaz got nine years behind bars; and Mendez received a sentence of more than four years, Daly said.
Carlos “Camby” Colon, Pierce and Mojica are awaiting sentencing, Daly said.
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