Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut
Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, has announced the sentencing of Algelly Diaz, 42, from Hartford. Diaz received a sentence of 48 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. The sentencing was handed down by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven.
Court documents and statements indicate that in May 2023, the FBI Waterbury Safe Streets Task Force conducted controlled purchases involving nine firearms from an associate of Diaz in Waterbury. The investigation uncovered that this associate acquired numerous firearms through straw purchasers from licensed dealers in Kansas. These firearms were then shipped via U.S. Mail to a stash location managed by Diaz in Hartford before being sold across Connecticut.
Diaz, a convicted felon prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms, was implicated alongside his co-conspirators who reportedly purchased at least 73 firearms between August 2020 and May 2023 from a dealer in Deerfield, Kansas.
On May 19, 2023, Diaz and several co-conspirators were arrested following searches executed at various locations across Connecticut, Kansas, and California. Investigators found approximately 90 rounds of ammunition at Diaz's residence and intercepted a package containing three additional firearms.
The investigation involved multiple agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Waterbury Police Department; Connecticut State Police; and Chino Police Department in California.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Natasha M. Freismuth is prosecuting the case under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Program which aims to dismantle criminal organizations using collaborative law enforcement efforts.
Acting U.S. Attorney Silverman expressed gratitude to the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Districts of Kansas and Central California for their assistance with this case.
