More Jail Time For Escapee Serving Stafford Gun Theft Sentence

STAFFORD, CT — A man who escaped from a Bloomfield halfway house while serving time in a Stafford gun theft case has been sentenced to additional prison time.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that announced that Jonathan McEwen, 35, formerly of Vernon, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to 14 months of imprisonment for escaping from the halfway house where he was completing a federal prison term.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Feb. 14, 2022, McEwen was sentenced in Hartford federal court to 42 months of imprisonment for unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.

Case records show that, On Aug. 1, 2023, McEwen was transferred from a federal prison in Berlin, NH, to the Drapelick Center, a "residential re-entry center" in Bloomfield, to complete his custodial sentence.

On Nov. 27, 2023, McEwen was authorized to leave the halfway house to attend a state court hearing in Manchesterand he failed to return to the halfway house as required, according to case records.

On Dec. 6, 2023, McEwen was arrested by the Connecticut State Police and the Hartford Police Department on state charges unrelated to his escape.

McEwen has been detained since his arrest. On July 16 of this year, he pleaded guilty to escape from the custody of the Attorney General.

In the fall of 2019, McEwan was one of three men charged with firearms offenses related to the theft of guns from a Stafford pawn shop.