Man Booted Out Of Vernon As Part Of Plea Deal In Violent Crime Cases

VERNON, CT — A defendant in multiple cases involving rival warring factions in Vernon has been banned from town after a plea agreement, authorities said.

The incidents involved two groups of young adults and juveniles that have been at odds for years, police said. Posturing escalated into violent incidents that included street fights, a pistol-whipping, and gunfire both at a local apartment complex and in the Rockville section of Vernon, records show.

On Friday, a judge in Rockville Superior Court sentenced 22-year-old Jakwai Sosa to 10 years in prison, suspended after five, court records show. He will also be on probation for five years, according to the sentencing records.

Sosa is also been banned from being in Vernon, except when traveling along I-84, as part of a plea bargain.

Sosa is officially convicted of second-degree assault for a June 2019 arrest and of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault with severe injury for a September 2020 event.

Sosa joins his one-time housemate Trenton Merrill as a guest of the state after Friday's conviction.

In May, Merrill, Merrill, 19, was sentenced to seven years in prison for an Aug. 27, 2020 "assault and attempted shooting" of a juvenile.

Merrill was originally charged with attempted murder and other felonies. He entered guilty pleas to the charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, carrying a pistol without a permit and illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, authorities said.

Sosa's original charges in that case, along with a $1 million bond, included conspiracy to commit murder, and second-degree assault with a firearm.