A Waterbury man has been indicted on drug and weapons charges after allegedly selling cocaine and firearms to undercover agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A federal grand jury in New Haven returned the indictment on Feb. 17 charging 31-year-old Jan Paul Baerga-Mariani with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine and one count of conspiracy to traffic firearms, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut.
The indictment alleges that, between October 2025 and January 2026, undercover ATF agents purchased a total of one kilogram of cocaine and six firearms from Baerga-Mariani.
Baerga-Mariani was previously arrested on Feb. 10, 2025. During a court-authorized search of his residence on Wood Street in Waterbury, investigators allegedly located “a 9mm handgun that had been reported stolen in North Carolina in December 2025, a loaded firearm magazine, additional rounds of 9mm ammunition, a small quantity of cocaine, several vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana, and other items,” according to the indictment.
Baerga-Mariani has been detained since his arrest. He appeared Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria E. Garcia in New Haven and pleaded not guilty, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
If found guilty, Baerga-Mariani faces a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison on the narcotics charge and a maximum of 15 years on the weapons charge, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Waterbury Police Department with assistance from the Connecticut State Police, Bloomfield and Windsor Police Departments and the Connecticut Center for Digital Investigations, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.