Defendant Gets 5 Years In Middletown Online Marketplace Robbery Case

MIDDLETOWN, CT — A Hartford woman has been sentenced to more than five years in a federal prison for a role in a gunpoint online exchange robbery with Middletown ties.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that 24-year-old Valeries Menses was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford to 63 months of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for her role in a gunpoint robbery of a victim who was selling an iPhone on Facebook Marketplace.

According to court documents and statements made in court, the 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, case records show.

Avery said the investigation revealed that, in August and September of 2022, Meneses' brother, John Villegas, also known as "Kirby," committed five armed robberies in Hartford with Jalen Lasalle, and one armed robbery with Meneses in Middletown.

Avery said Meneses used a Facebook account to arrange the purported purchase of an iPhone from a victim who advertised its sale on Facebook Marketplace. On August 20, 2022, Meneses traveled with Villegas to meet the victim at a restaurant parking lot in Middletown. When the victim arrived at the meeting location, Villegas entered the victim's car, inspected the iPhone, pulled out a firearm, and told the victim he was "out of luck," according to case records.

Villegas also attempted to grab the victim’s personal cellphone and threatened to shoot him, before running to his waiting vehicle and fleeing with Meneses, according to case records.

Judge Nagala ordered Meneses to pay $1,000 in restitution to the victim.

Meneses was arrested on Oct. 5, 2023. On May 15 of this year, she pleaded guilty to interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act robbery), and carrying and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Meneses, who is released on a $25,000 bond, is required to report to prison on December 15.

Villegas and Lasalle, both of Hartford, have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

This matter has been investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Hartford Police Department, and the Middletown Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephanie T. Levick and A. Reed Durham.

U.S. Attorney Avery encouraged those who sell and purchase items online, and need to meet an individual in person to complete the sale, to use a visible, monitored location. Contact your local police department to see if it offers a monitored meeting location, or search online for a nearby monitored location.