Press Releases
01/09/2024
New Britain Man Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for Multiple Commercial Burglaries
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Middletown, CT) – Michael A. Gailor, State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Middlesex, announced that Santos Colon-Gonzalez, age 26, of New Britain, was sentenced today by the Honorable Julia DiCocco Dewey to eight years in prison, followed by five years of special parole for his role in a series of commercial burglaries and attempted commercial burglaries between July 2020 and September 2021 throughout Connecticut during which ATM machines were stolen in some of the crimes.
Colon-Gonzalez pleaded guilty in Middletown Superior Court on October 31, 2023 to a charge of Corrupt Organizations and Racketeering Activity in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53-395(b) and (c). Colon-Gonzalez was involved in 26 burglaries and attempted burglaries.
Four other New Britain men also have pleaded guilty to similar charges in Middletown Superior Court in connection with the burglaries and are currently serving prison sentences in Connecticut. They include the following:
- Nelson Colon-Davila, age 23, sentenced on October 18, 2022 to 10 years in prison, execution suspended after three years served and five years of probation.
- Rafael DelValle, age 26, sentenced on April 25, 2023 to 15 years in prison, execution suspended after seven years served and five years of probation
- Luis DelValle, age 24, sentenced on August 15, 2023 to 15 years in prison, execution suspended after five years served and five years of probation.
- Joanberto Rivera, age 24, sentenced on January 26, 2023 to 15 years in prison, execution suspended after five years served and five years of probation.
According to court documents, the defendants burglarized and attempted to burglarize more than 100 businesses in Middletown, North Branford, North Haven, Milford, Farmington, South Windsor, East Haven, Glastonbury, Meriden, Hamden, Naugatuck, Fairfield, Ansonia Newington, Prospect, Portland, Waterford and other municipalities. The majority of the burglaries occurred late at night and in the early morning hours. The masked burglars would travel to the businesses in a stolen vehicle with tinted windows and use pry bars to break into the businesses. Within one to two minutes, the burglars would steal cash from registers, lottery tickets and ATM machines. Several of the burglaries and attempted burglaries would occur on the same night, within minutes of each other.
State’s Attorney Gailor praised the cooperative efforts of the police departments around the state that investigated the crimes and highlighted the work of the Middletown Police Department that assumed the lead in the investigation.