Waterbury Man Sentenced For Crack Cocaine & Fentanyl Trafficking

Sunday, August 17, 2025, 10:30 A.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

HARTFORD, CT.- A 26-year-old Waterbury, Connecticut, man, and local armed drug trafficker, will be spending the next decade in federal prison after being sentenced on Wednesday for distributing quantities of crack cocaine and fentanyl throughout Waterbury, Connecticut.

     According to U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan, on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, Elvin Santos, 26, of Waterbury, Connecticut, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Michael P. Shea to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by four years of supervised release after pleading guilty to federal drug trafficking and firearms violations.

     Santos, who has been detained since his arrest on June 14, 2022, on Connecticut State charges, appeared on August 3, 2023, in Federal Court in Hartford, Connecticut, and pleaded guilty to one count of Possession with Intent to Distribute 40 Grams or More of Controlled Substances, Fentanyl, Cocaine, and Crack Cocaine; and Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Crime.

Santos Was Charged Federally After The Feds Picked Up The Cases

     According to court documents and statements made in the District Court, the guilty plea and Wednesday’s sentence are the result of three separate Connecticut State narcotics investigations. Following a review of evidence and the circumstances surrounding the crimes, the cases were consolidated and transferred for federal prosecution.

     On March 21, 2021, during a narcotics investigation, Investigators, while conducting stationary surveillance, observed Santos and others conducting what appeared to be hand-to-hand drug transactions from a vehicle that Santos was driving. Investigators apprehended Santos and two others, and a search of the vehicle uncovered three loaded handguns, additional ammunition, a digital scale, and distribution quantities of fentanyl and crack cocaine.

     In June 2021, Investigators of the Waterbury Police Department obtained a court-authorized search warrant based on continuing narcotics trafficking activities by Santos. On July 8, 2021, Investigators arrived at Santos’s residence to execute the search warrant and stopped Santos as he exited his vehicle. 

     A subsequent search of a satchel Santos was carrying uncovered around 50 grams of crack cocaine, 280 single-dose baggies of fentanyl, and more than 120 narcotics pills, a digital scale, a .40-caliber bullet, and other items consistent with narcotics distribution. A search of Santos’s vehicle also uncovered quantities of marijuana, a digital scale, narcotics packaging material, and additional items of drug paraphernalia. A search of his residence uncovered more than a kilogram of marijuana, 250 single-dose baggies of fentanyl, narcotics packaging material, gun magazines, empty firearms boxes, and more than $10,000 in U.S. currency, in denominations consistent with street-level narcotics distribution.

     In May 2022, Investigators of the Waterbury Police Department again obtained a court-authorized search warrant based on Santos’s continuing drug distribution activities. Santos was taken into custody on June 14, 2022. On that date, a search of a satchel he was carrying uncovered more than 900 single-dose baggies of fentanyl, quantities of crack cocaine, marijuana, and a digital scale.

     A subsequent search of Santos’s residence uncovered a .38-caliber revolver, a large amount of marijuana, and more than $2,000 in U.S. currency. A related search of a stash location that Santos and others used on Gilyard Drive in Waterbury, Connecticut, uncovered more than 5,500 single-dose baggies of fentanyl and narcotics packaging materials.

     U.S. Attorney Sullivan commended the investigative work of the Waterbury Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which led to the apprehension and successful prosecution of Santos.