A Kansas man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for trafficking firearms into Connecticut, according to an announcement from David X. Sullivan, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Brian Baker, 48, of Scott City, Kansas, received a sentence of 60 months imprisonment and three years of supervised release from U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven.
Court documents and statements reveal that in May 2023, the FBI Waterbury Safe Streets Task Force made three controlled purchases totaling nine firearms and one purchase of cocaine from Luis Perez in Waterbury. The investigation expanded after it was discovered that Perez acquired numerous firearms through individuals directed by Baker. These individuals purchased the weapons from licensed dealers in Kansas and shipped them via U.S. Mail to a stash location maintained by Algelly Diaz in Hartford.
Perez then sold these firearms—including assault weapons and high-capacity magazines—throughout Connecticut. The coordination involved Baker in Kansas and Fernando Soto Jr. in California; both men used straw purchasers to buy the guns before shipping them either directly or through intermediaries to Connecticut.
Between August 2020 and May 2023, Ramon Pichardo, one of Baker’s straw purchasers, bought at least 73 firearms from a dealer in Deerfield, Kansas.
Baker and others were arrested on May 19, 2023. Law enforcement executed search warrants at multiple locations across Connecticut, Kansas, and California on that day. At Perez’s residence and vehicle, authorities found nine firearms; over 200 rounds of ammunition; quantities of cocaine, crack cocaine, fentanyl/heroin; items for processing narcotics; and more than $7,000 cash. A search at Diaz’s home revealed about 90 rounds of ammunition while another package sent to Diaz contained three additional firearms.
So far law enforcement has recovered approximately 34 trafficked firearms both within Connecticut and elsewhere—including one firearm found at the scene of a juvenile homicide on August 27, 2022 in San Bernardino, California.
Baker has been detained since his arrest. He pleaded guilty on March 26, 2025 to charges including conspiracy to traffic firearms as well as mailing nonmailable weapons.
Luis Perez pleaded guilty on March 19, 2025 to similar offenses related to firearm trafficking and drug distribution charges; he was also found guilty by jury for possession of a firearm during a drug crime on April 4, 2025 and is awaiting sentencing.
Diaz previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced on February 4, 2025 to four years’ imprisonment.
Soto and Pichardo have also entered guilty pleas but have not yet been sentenced.
The case involved multiple agencies: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S Postal Inspection Service as well as state police departments across several cities including Waterbury and Chino (California).
Assistant U.S Attorneys Natasha M Freismuth & Christopher J Lembo are prosecuting this matter under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Program (OCDETF).
David X Sullivan expressed gratitude towards counterparts in Kansas & Central Districts Of California for their assistance: “U.S. Attorney Sullivan thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution of this case.”
