New London Restaurant Owner Sentenced to 5 Years in Federal Prison for Trafficking Cocaine

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that PAUL MOTT, 29, of Groton, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer in New Haven to 60 months of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for trafficking cocaine.

According to court documents and statements made in court, an investigation by the FBI Northern Connecticut Safe Streets Task Force, Norwich Police Department, Waterford Police Department and Groton Town Police revealed that in the summer of 2016, MOTT conspired with others to obtain and distribute cocaine. MOTT regularly took orders for cocaine from his co-conspirators and then drove to his supplier in the Bronx, New York, to obtain the drug. When he returned to Connecticut, MOTT provided the cocaine to his co-conspirators for further distribution. Some of MOTT’s narcotics trafficking activity occurred his restaurant, Caribbean American Kitchen to Go, located on Truman Street in New London.

MOTT was arrested on August 8, 2016, after he was found in possession of approximately 319 grams of cocaine that he obtained in New York and transported to southeastern Connecticut to redistribute. On that date, a search of a hotel room in Groton, where MOTT was residing, revealed an additional quantity of cocaine, as well as items used to process and package the drug.

As part of his sentence, MOTT was ordered to forfeit a 2013 Toyota 4Runner and approximately $3,494 that was seized from him at the time of his arrest.

MOTT has been detained since his arrest. On May 11, 2017, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to possesses with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patricia Stolfi Collins.