2 Hartford Residents Charged In Valentine's Day Cocaine Bust: Police

HARTFORD, CT — Two Hartford residents are in custody as part of a major cocaine bust late last week, an operation that also included help from the West Hartford Police Department.

According to Connecticut State Police, Hartford residents Karla Flores, 45, and Christian Burgos-Rodrigues, 30, were each charged with conspriacy to commit sale of a controlled substance and risk of injury to a minor.

Flores and Burgos-Rodriguez were each held on a $1 million bond and were scheduled to appear at Hartford Superior Court on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Both were charged after police seized a package of cocaine worth approximately $600,000 on the street last Friday, Feb. 14, police said in a statement released Tuesday, Feb. 18.

State police released details Tuesday of a lengthy, multi-agency investigation involving several law enforcement agencies, including the WHPD.

State police said that on Friday, Feb. 14, at about 9:30 a.m., members of the Connecticut State Police Statewide Narcotics Task Force, Hartford Police Department Vice & Narcotics Unit, West Hartford Police Department, and the Homeland Security Investigations Hartford BEST Team served a narcotics-related search warrant on Harvard Street in Hartford.

"This operation was the result of a long-term investigation of cocaine being shipped through commercial parcel carriers from Puerto Rico to several cities located throughout Connecticut," wrote CSP.

During this investigation, state police detectives, working with special agents with the Homeland Security Investigations Hartford BEST Team, were notified of the discovery of suspicious packages at a commercial parcel shipping facility in Hartford.

Police said investigators were advised there were two packages received at that facility which were subject to search, per policy, as both were suspected to contain narcotics.

State police said both packages were shipped from separate addresses in Puerto Rico.

However, they were addressed to be delivered to the same address in Hartford.

Both packages were determined to contain 10 plastic wrapped brick shaped objects, each containing a white powdery substance, wrote police.

The substance from each package was field tested and showed the presumptive presence of cocaine, according to police.

"The weight in total exceeded 22,000 grams, with an approximate street value worth $600,000," wrote state police. "The contents of the packages were subsequently seized as evidence."

Based on this finding, state police detectives continued their investigation and determined the recipient listed on the packages lived at the listed address in Hartford.

As a result, police said, detectives applied for a search warrant of this residence, which was later granted through Hartford Superior Court.

Detectives repackaged the parcels, each containing a "sham substance representative of the same initial weight within each package," police said.

On Friday, Feb. 14, at approximately 9:30 a.m., detectives delivered both packages to the address in Hartford.

With the assistance of Homeland Security detectives and detectives from the Hartford and West Hartford police departments, surveillance of the residence was established.

The resident of the address previously identified, Flores, was present at the front door to accept the delivery, police said.

State police said a male was observed in a white Volkswagen nearby watching the delivery take place.

Immediately following the delivery, the man was observed backing the Volkswagen into the driveway of the residence, police said.

Based upon this, detectives converged on the residence to execute the search warrant, wrote police.

Police said the male in the Volkswagen was seen running from the residence back to his vehicle in the driveway.

The male was subsequently detained and identified as Burgos-Rodriguez, also of Hartford.

Police said Flores was located within the residence and was also detained without incident.

While detectives continued the investigation within the residence, a 2-year-old child was located in the care of Flores, police said.

"A search of the residence led to the discovery of various packaging materials commonly associated with the sale of illicit narcotics, including a 100-gram weight," wrote state police.

"Weights of this nature are commonly used to calibrate scales for the measuring of narcotics materials for sale and/or distribution.

"Additionally, a small bag containing a tan powder-like substance was located near these materials. This substance was field tested and showed the presumptive presence of Fentanyl."

Flores and Burgos-Rodriguez were then taken into custody and transported to Troop H in Hartford.

For the Connecticut State Police news page, click on this link.