South Windsor Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced to More Than 8 Years in Federal Prison

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Boston Division, announced that IGNACIO BRUNO, 33, of South Windsor, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to 102 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Bruno coordinated the shipment of cocaine through the U.S. Mail from suppliers in Puerto Rico to various addresses in Connecticut and elsewhere in the northeastern U.S.  Bruno’s co-conspirator, Juan Lugo Del Valle, mailed some of the parcels at Bruno’s direction from Puerto Rico.  Bruno paid certain Connecticut residents to use their residences to receive cocaine parcels that had been mailed.  During the course of the investigation, law enforcement personnel seized multiple kilograms of cocaine that were attributable to Bruno.

Bruno has been detained since his arrest on April 12, 2018.  On September 18, 2019, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute, 500 grams or more of cocaine.

“Today’s sentencing should give fair warning to those who use the U.S. Mail to distribute cocaine and other illegal narcotics, that Postal Inspectors will investigate and seek prosecution of those individuals,” said Inspector in Charge Cronin.  “We will vigorously pursue traffickers who put our communities at risk by allowing these highly addictive drugs into our state.”

Lugo Del Valle pleaded guilty to the same offense and, on November 19, 2019, was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment.

This matter was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Hartford and Southington Police Departments.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney S. Dave Vatti.