Man pleads guilty to drug, firearm charges

A convicted felon from New Britain has pleaded guilty to drug and firearms charges after being caught throwing fentanyl from a window when investigators were searching his home for drugs, officials said.

Rafael Martinez, 31, appeared in federal court in Hartford on Wednesday, where he waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Officials said that Martinez had been identified as a “large-scale distributor” of fentanyl by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force. Investigators learned that he was using an apartment on Sargeant Street in Hartford to store and process fentanyl for sale and was distributing the drug from his home on Hayes Street in New Britain, court records show.

On Aug. 3, 2022, investigators searched his home and saw Martinez throwing a white powder from the living room window. They later found 200 grams of fentanyl and items used to package narcotics that he’d thrown from the window, officials said.

While searching his home, they found 3,000 wax folds of fentanyl, more loose fentanyl and crack cocaine, narcotics paraphernalia, two handguns, ammunition and $28,777 in cash, officials said.

Martinez, who has been in custody since his arrest in August, is a convicted felon with a criminal history that includes narcotics offenses. Convicted felons are not allowed to be in possession of firearms.

Martinez faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 40 years for the drug charges, along with a maximum term of 10 years in prison for the firearms charge, officials said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny on April 13, officials said.