11-Year Sentence Rendered In Fed Drug Case Investigated, In Part, By Manchester Police

HARTFORD, CT — A New Britain man has been sentenced to more than 11 years in a federal prison for offenseas related to trafficking narcotics from a New Britain car dealership in a case that Manchester police helped investigate, prosecutors said.

David X. Sullivan, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that WILFREDO ORTIZ, also known as "Will" and "P," 45, of Bristol, was sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 135 months of imprisonment and five years of supervised release for trafficking narcotics from a car dealership in New Britain.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2024, the FBI's Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force and New Britain Police Department investigated a drug trafficking organization, headed by Ortiz, that was operating out of Supreme Automotive, a car dealership located on Main Street in New Britain. The investigation included the use of court-authorized wiretaps, physical and electronic surveillance, and several controlled purchases of narcotics, primarily cocaine, from Ortiz and other members of the conspiracy, case records show.

Three controlled purchases from Ortiz involved more than a kilogram of cocaine and intercepted communications also revealed Oritz’s connection to firearms, according to case records.

Ortiz and other members of this drug trafficking organization were arrested on Nov. 14, 2024.

In association with the arrests, investigators conducted court authorized searches of Supreme Automotive and residences and other locations connected to the drug trafficking organization and seized more than 5 kilograms of cocaine, more than 200 grams of fentanyl, approximately 30 grams of heroin, a kilogram press, seven firearms, ammunition, approximately $75,000 in cash, and 26 vehicles, according to case records.

Ortiz has been detained since his arrest. On Nov. 10, 2025, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

In 1999, Ortiz was sentenced in New Britain Superior Court to 27 years of imprisonment for murder and robbery offenses stemming from a convenience store robbery in August 1998, during which a codefendant shot and killed one employee and wounded another employee. Sullivan said.

This investigation has been conducted by the FBI’s Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Connecticut State Police, the Connecticut Department of Correction, the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles Police, and the New Britain, Hartford, West Hartford, Waterbury, Naugatuck, East Hartford, Brookfield, Milford, Norwich, Orange, North Haven, Meriden, Berlin, and Manchester police departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Natasha Freismuth, Reed Durham, and David Nelson.