Hartford Man Sentenced to 7 Years in Federal Prison for Carjacking Offense

DOJ Press

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ARNO SMITH, 60, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 84 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for committing a carjacking in 2018.

According to court documents and statements made in court, at approximately 11:00 p.m. on July 26, 2018, Smith approached a woman who was sitting in her 2006 Honda in a Hartford parking lot and pressed what the woman believed to be a gun against her neck.  Smith then grabbed the victim’s purse and the victim got out of the car.  Smith pointed the weapon at the victim, told her to walk away, and then drove away in the car.  The cremated remains of the victim’s son were in the vehicle.

After the robbery, Smith attempted to use the victim’s credit card at two locations in Bristol.

Smith was arrested on state charges on September 20, 2018.  At the time of his arrest he was sitting in the victim’s car.  The remains of the victim’s son where not in the car and have not been recovered.


The investigation also revealed that between July 27 and September 19, 2018, Smith committed robberies at businesses located in Bristol, Southington, Hartford, Bloomfield, South Windsor and Windsor Locks.

Smith has been detained since his arrest.  On October 6, 2020, he pleaded guilty to one count of Hobbs Act robbery

This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crimes Task Force and the Hartford, Bristol, Southington, Bloomfield, South Windsor, Windsor Locks, Farmington and West Hartford Police Departments.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Keefe.

This prosecution is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  In May 2021, the Justice Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: Fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

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