Plea Entered In Federal Case Connected To Middletown Armed Robbery

MIDDLETOWN, CT — An investigation undertaken, in part, by Middletown police has resulted in a Hartford man admitting to robbing people who advertised goods on internet marketplaces, federal authorities said.

"Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that 20-year-old Jalen Lasalle, 20, of Hartford, entered a guilty plea Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford to offenses related to a series of gunpoint robberies targeting individual sellers of luxury goods over online marketplaces in 2022.

According to case records, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Hartford Police Department, and the Middletown Police Departments investigated a series of gunpoint robberies of people 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 that Lasalle and John Villegas, also known as "Kirby," committed five armed robberies in Hartford in late August and early September 2022, Avery said.

Villegas, with Valerie Meneses, also committed an armed robbery in August 2022 in Middletown, Avery said.

Lasalle was arrested on Feb. 3, 2023.

Lasalle pleaded guilty to two counts of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act robbery), an offense that carries a maximum prison term of 20 years on each count, and two counts of carrying and using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, an offense that carries a mandatory consecutive prison term of at least five years on each count.

Lasalle is released on a $50,000 pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 7.

Villegas and Meneses, both of Hartford, have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Villegas has been detained since his arrest on Dec. 14, 2022, and Meneses is released on bond.