Bridgeport Man Pleads Guilty To Lying To Federal Grand Jury

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A 22-year-old Bridgeport man pleaded guilty this week to making a false declaration before a federal grand jury, after he said he didn't know a suspect in a shooting, but the two appeared in a rap video together, prosecutors learned.

Tae'Ron Womack pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport. The announcement of the plea was made by U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery; Joseph T. Corradino, State’s Attorney for the Fairfield Judicial District; Bridgeport Police Chief Roderick Porter; Robert Fuller, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; James Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge, ATF Boston Field Division; Brian D. Boyle, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England, and Acting U.S. Marshal Lawrence Bobnick.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the FBI, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Bridgeport Police have been investigating multiple Bridgeport-based gangs whose members are involved in narcotics trafficking, murder and other acts of violence. In July 2020, Womack testified before a grand jury in New Haven, because his car was used during the shooting and killing of Myreke Kenion on January 26, 2020.

The grand jury had developed information that Jaheim Warren was involved in the shooting. Womack was shown a picture of Warren and was asked, "Have you seen this person before?" Womack, under oath, responded, "No."

He was then asked, "You don’t recognize this person at all?" Womack responded, "Probably like seen him around but like overall, I don’t know him."

Soon after Womack’s grand jury testimony, investigators found a rap video on YouTube, in which Warren and Womack appeared together throughout.

Womack was arrested in September 2020; Jaheim Warren, 19, was shot and killed in late December of that year.

Womack is scheduled to be sentenced in December, at which time he faces a maximum prison term of five years. He is currently free on a $25,000 bond pending sentencing.

From the federal announcement:

This investigation is being conducted by the FBI’s Safe Streets and Violent Crimes Task Forces, ATF, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service, Bridgeport Police Department, Connecticut State Police and the Bridgeport State’s Attorney’s Office, with the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory and the Waterbury Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rahul Kale and Jocelyn C. Kaoutzanis.

This prosecution is a part of the Justice’s Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), Project Longevity and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) programs.

PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Project Longevity is a comprehensive initiative to reduce gun violence in Connecticut’s major cities. Through Project Longevity, community members and law enforcement directly engage with members of groups that are prone to commit violence and deliver a community message against violence, a law enforcement message about the consequences of further violence and an offer of help for those who want it. If a group member elects to engage in gun violence, the focused attention of federal, state, and local law enforcement will be directed at that entire group.

OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations through a prosecutor-led and intelligence-driven approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.