US Attorney: New Haven 'Bloods Member' Gets 5 Years In Federal Prison

NEW HAVEN, CT — A 22-year-old New Haven man, who federal prosecutors said is a gang member, was sentenced Wednesday to serve more than five years in prison on a firearm conviction, according to the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut.

Shavarius Smith will serve 70 months in a federal prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in June 2022 to possession of ammunition by a felon, US Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said.

According to Avery, court documents and statements made in court, on Oct. 8, 2021, at approximately 11:15 p.m., New Haven Police recovered a 9-millimeter “ghost gun” equipped with a 31-round high-capacity magazine, and distribution quantities of heroin and crack cocaine, from a parked stolen vehicle that Smith had been driving. Smith, a known Bloods gang member, the US Attorney said, was released from prison on Sept. 2, 2021, was serving a term of probation, and was wearing a GPS ankle monitor as a condition of his probation. Officers located and arrested Smith a short time later, prosecutors said.

Smith’s criminal history includes state felony convictions for larceny and drug offenses, court records show. It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce, per Avery.