Jose Nanez-Torres, also as known as "J-Money," age 21, of Hartford, was sentenced on Monday, Jan. 10, said Leonard C Boyle, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
According to court documents and statements made in court, in January 2019, Nunez-Torres and Dominque Perry stole a 2016 Honda Accord from a residence in Newington.
The vehicle was the property of a federal law enforcement agency and contained fully loaded firearm magazines for multiple weapons, ammunition, handcuffs and other restraints, a ballistic vest and its component parts, and raid jackets, the US Attorney's Office said.
After stealing the vehicle, Perry drove the Accord to a location in Bloomfield where he Nunez-Torres removed the vehicle’s tires and rims. Nunez-Torres and Perry subsequently sold the tires and rims and advertised the sale of loaded firearm magazines, ammunition, a ballistic vest, and other items, court documents show.
Nunez-Torres was arrested in March 2019. The vehicle and its tires and rims have been recovered, but some of the law enforcement equipment that was in the car has not been located, the US Attorney's Office said.
In November 2020, while he was released on bond in his federal case, Nunez-Torres was arrested on state charges after law enforcement officers encountered him sleeping in a stolen car that was parked on an I-91 off-ramp in Hartford, court documents said.
A search of the car revealed two stun guns, a black metal collapsible baton, and distribution quantities of fentanyl and marijuana. He has been detained in state custody since that date, officials said.
Nunez-Torres pleaded guilty in May 2021 in federal court to one count of theft of government property and one count of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.
Nunez-Torres and Perry have also been ordered to pay $1,560 in restitution for the missing equipment.
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