A Connecticut car dealership doubled as a cocaine hub — and one of its key players is now headed to federal prison.
Tashia Bridges, also known as “Cheena,” was sentenced Thursday to 84 months behind bars for her role in a drug trafficking conspiracy that federal authorities say operated out of Supreme Automotive, a New Britain car dealership masquerading as a legitimate business.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea handed down the sentence in Hartford, also ordering four years of supervised release following Bridges’ prison term, according to U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan.
Federal investigators say the operation ran throughout 2024 and was led by Wilfredo Ortiz and Michael Luisi, who used the dealership at 494 Main Street as a base to distribute large quantities of cocaine. The FBI’s Northern Connecticut Gang Task Force and New Britain Police Department dismantled the ring using wiretaps, physical surveillance, electronic monitoring, and controlled drug buys.
According to court records, Bridges was a steady customer — and reseller.
Investigators say she regularly purchased between 400 and 500 grams of cocaine from Luisi, then converted and sold both crack and powder cocaine to her own network of buyers across the region.
The case came crashing down on November 14, 2024, when federal agents and local police executed court-authorized search warrants at Supreme Automotive and several related locations. The haul was extensive: more than five kilograms of cocaine, over 200 grams of fentanyl, roughly 30 grams of heroin, a kilogram press, seven firearms, ammunition, $75,000 in cash, and 26 vehicles tied to the operation.
Seized narcotics including marijuana, crack cocaine and fentanyl among others during a press conference at the Montgomery Police Department s Criminal Investigations office in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, Aug. 8, 2022.
Searches of Bridges’ residences in Torrington and Waterbury uncovered nearly 250 grams of crack cocaine, additional powder cocaine, a digital scale, more than $14,000 in cash, and a 9mm handgun with an obliterated serial number.
Bridges pleaded guilty on March 6, 2025, to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. She has been in custody since September 11, 2025, after her federal bond was revoked following a separate arrest by Connecticut State Police on new drug distribution charges.
Ortiz and Luisi have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Federal prosecutors described the case as a stark example of organized drug trafficking hiding in plain sight — a cocaine pipeline running through a storefront that sold cars by day and moved narcotics behind closed doors.
What looked like a neighborhood dealership, authorities say, was anything but. And with Bridges’ sentencing, one more chapter closes in a case defined by wiretaps, weapons, and an auto lot that doubled as a crime scene.
