Prisoner Who Escaped from Bloomfield Halfway House Pleads Guilty

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that HECTOR SANTIAGO, 29, pleaded guilty yesterday in Hartford federal court to escaping from the custody of the Attorney General.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on November 18, 2019, Santiago was sentenced in Hartford federal court to 69 months of imprisonment for a narcotics trafficking offense.  On June 23, 2023, he was transferred from the U.S. Penitentiary in Lee County, Virginia, to the Drapelick Center, a Residential Reentry Center (halfway house) in Bloomfield, to complete his custodial sentence.  On September 27, 2023, Santiago left the facility and failed to return.  He was located and arrested in Hartford on February 9, 2024.

Santiago has been detained since his arrest.

At sentencing, which is not scheduled, Santiago faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.

This matter was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean P. Mahard.