Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Bridgeport Man Sentenced To More Than 7 Years in Prison for Planning Drug Robbery
Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that CARLOS COLON, also known as “Joel,” 35, of Bridgeport, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer in New Haven to 90 months of imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release, for planning to conduct an armed robbery of narcotics stash house.
This matter stems from “Operation Samson,” an initiative headed by the ATF and the Bridgeport and New Haven Police Departments that targeted violent criminals, illegal firearm possession and firearm trafficking. In the spring of 2014, approximately 40 ATF special agents and personnel from Connecticut and across the country were deployed with New Haven and Bridgeport Police to conduct numerous covert operations.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in March 2014, the ATF began an investigation into Joel Colon and his brother, Carlos “Camby” Colon, who were known narcotics and firearm traffickers in Bridgeport. Law enforcement also had received information that Joel Colon was interested committing an armed robbery of a drug dealer. During the investigation, which employed the use of an ATF agent working in an undercover capacity, the Colons recruited others to commit an armed robbery of what they believed to be a narcotics stash house of 15 kilograms of cocaine.
On April 11, 2014, the Colons, Humberto Soto, Markus Mendez, Nelson Diaz, Trevor Pierce and Hiram “Gringo” Mojica gathered at a location in Stamford where they believed they would be informed of the address of the narcotics stash house, and would then travel to the stash house to conduct the robbery. All seven were arrested at that time. A search of the car that Diaz, Pierce and Mojica drove to the location revealed a loaded .40 caliber pistol, an EO Tech sight, black gloves, as well as two rolls of duct tape. A search of the vehicle that Soto and Mendez drove to the meet location revealed a loaded and 9mm pistol, black clothing and a baseball bat.
A subsequent search of an auto-detailing business in Bridgeport where Joel and Camby worked revealed several dozen rounds of ammunition, a small amount of crack cocaine, two digital scales and narcotics packaging materials.
Joel Colon has been detained since April 11, 2014. On March 4, 2015, he pleaded guilty 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.
Camby Colon, Diaz, Mendez, Soto, Pierce and Mojica also pleaded guilty. On June 17, 2015, Soto was sentenced to 84 months of imprisonment and, on August 25, 2015, Diaz was sentenced to 108 months of imprisonment. The other defendants await sentencing.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vanessa Richards.
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