Hartford Reporter

A 25-year-old woman has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for bringing cocaine into Connecticut in 2023. This announcement was made in a July 29 news release from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

For trafficking cocaine into the state, US District Judge Sarala V. Nagala, in Hartford, sentenced Karina Cintron Santiago of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to 16 months in federal custody. This will be followed by three years of post-prison supervision, according to a July 25 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.

According to HSI, the investigation began on June 4, 2023, when Santiago’s checked luggage on a JetBlue flight from San Juan Airport to Bradley International Airport revealed 12 kilograms of cocaine. Upon her arrival in Connecticut, Santiago learned that her bag was not at baggage claim and reported it lost.

Three days later, HSI special agents posing as JetBlue agents contacted Santiago to inform her that her bag had been found and would be at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks the next day. She was arrested after she removed her bag from a luggage carousel on June 8. HSI agents had placed her bag with its original contents on the luggage carousel.

Santiago pleaded guilty to charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. She was released on a $75,000 bond and must report to prison on Sept. 23 following the July 25 sentencing.

HSI New England’s Hartford Resident Agent in Charge office investigated this case with assistance from Transportation Security Administration personnel, US Customs and Border Protection, and the Puerto Rico Police Bureau.

Homeland Security Investigations is the investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There are more than 10,000 employees of HSI who work in 235 offices in the US and 93 overseas locations. HSI was created in 2010 when the Offices of Investigations, Intelligence, and International Affairs within US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were combined into a new directorate known as Homeland Security Investigations.