Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody today announced the unsealing of an indictment charging MELKUAN SCOTT, also known as “Mel,” “Young God,” “Young,” and “YG,” 32, and ARTHUR STANLEY, also known as “Wig,” 33, with the drug-related murder of Serafin Velez in Hartford on February 16, 2012.

On February 14, 2023, a federal grand jury in New Haven returned a two-count indictment charging Scott and Stanley with the kidnapping of Velez resulting in his death, and with causing the death of Velez through the use of a firearm.  The indictment alleges that Scott and Stanley murdered Velez during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, and that they did so deliberately, maliciously, and with premeditation.

Scott and Stanley, both formerly of Hartford, have been detained in federal custody since April 2014 and are currently serving sentences for other offenses.  They each appeared yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas O. Farrish in Hartford and entered pleas of not guilty, and Judge Farrish ordered the indictment unsealed.

If convicted of the charges, Scott and Stanley face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, or death if the government seeks the death penalty in the matter.

U.S. Attorney Avery stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Hartford Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys A. Reed Durham and Robert S. Ruff.

Original source can be found here.