Indictment charges New Haven man with cocaine trafficking offense

Date: Dec. 5, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Stephen Belleau, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, today announced that a federal grand jury in Hartford has returned an indictment charging Roberto Lozada, also known as Roberto Lozado and "Omi," of New Haven, with possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

The indictment was returned on November 14, 2024, and Lozada appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria E. Garcia and entered a plea of not guilty to the charge. He has been detained since his arrest on October 1, 2024.

As alleged in court documents and statements made in court, on October 1, 2024, the Drug Enforcement Administration received information that Lozada would be delivering a half-kilogram of cocaine to an unknown person in the area of Forbes Avenue and Woodward Avenue in New Haven. Investigators initiated surveillance and Lozada was stopped when he arrived at the location. A search of a backpack he was carrying revealed approximately 553 grams of cocaine.

The charge of possession with intent to distribute cocaine carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years.

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Drug Enforcement Administration New Haven Task Force, which includes members from the DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Connecticut State Police and the New Haven, Waterbury, East Haven, Branford, West Haven, Ansonia, Meriden, Naugatuck, and Shelton Police Departments.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan J. Keefe.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.