Hartford Man Sentenced To Prison For Robbing Online Sellers: Feds

HARTFORD, CT — A Hartford man will spend the next 13 years behind bars following his sentencing in federal court Wednesday for a series of armed robberies against online marketplace sellers.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, said John Villegas, also known as “Kirby,” 26, of Hartford was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release.

Avery said Villegas committed a series of gunpoint robberies targeting individual sellers of luxury goods over online marketplaces.

According to court documents and statements made in court, federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Hartford Police Department, and the Middletown Police Department investigated a series of gunpoint robberies of individuals who advertised items for sale on Internet marketplaces, such as Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp.

At an arranged meeting place to sell their items, which included cell phones and luxury sneakers and accessories, the purported purchaser would brandish a firearm, force the victim to hand over the luxury goods, and flee, Avery said.

The investigation revealed Villegas and Jalen Lasalle committed five armed robberies in Hartford in late August and early September 2022.

Villegas, with his sister Valerie Meneses, also committed an armed robbery in August 2022 in Middletown.

Villegas has been detained since Dec. 14, 2022. On Sept. 12, 2024, he pleaded guilty to two counts of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act robbery), and two counts of carrying and using a firearm concerning a crime of violence.

Lasalle and Meneses, both of Hartford, pleaded guilty to related charges.

On Oct. 16, 2024, Meneses was sentenced to 63 months of imprisonment. Lasalle awaits sentencing.

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