Woman Pleads Guilty To Trafficking Cocaine Into Bradley Airport

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — A resident of Puerto Rico pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to a cocaine trafficking offense in which narcotics were found in her luggage at Bradley International Airport.

Hecmarieliz Cruz-Acevedo, 24, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute cocaine before U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport. The offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years., according to Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 9, 2021, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) received information from U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors at San Juan International Airport that Cruz-Acevedo had boarded a flight to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, with a final destination of Bradley International Airport, and had checked a piece of luggage that contained five rectangular-shaped objects consistent with narcotics packages.

After the flight landed at Bradley, a Connecticut State Police canine detected the presence of narcotics in the checked bag. Investigators stopped Cruz-Acevedo when she retrieved the bag at baggage claim, and she was arrested after a search of the bag revealed five individual parcels, each containing slightly more than one kilogram of cocaine, located between articles of clothing, Avery said.

Cruz-Acevedo is released on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing, which is not yet scheduled.