Vernon Man Gets Federal Probation In Pawn Shop Gun Robbery Case

VERNON, CT — A Vernon man facing more than five years in prison on state charges related to a stolen gun case out of Stafford was put on federal probation Thursday.

The case will be two years old next week.

Leonard C. Boyle, acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that Damien Garcia, 34, of Vernon, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to five years of probation for a firearm offense stemming from a Stafford pawn shop robbery in 2019.

Garcia also has pleaded guilty to related charges in state court, where he faces a 66-month sentence.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on Sept. 15, 2019, the Connecticut State Police received a report that the Simon Says Pawn Shop, a Federal firearms licensee in Stafford, had been burglarized the previous evening and that several firearms had been stolen.

Investigators subsequently determined that seven handguns were missing from the store.

According to case records, on Sept. 17, Vernon Police developed information that Garcia was involved in the burglary and was in possession of a firearm. That evening, after officers approached Garcia and his associate, Lawrence McEwen, on West Main Street in Vernon, Garcia and McEwen attempted to flee, according to police records.

After both were apprehended, officers recovered a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson pistol that McEwen discarded as he ran away, one of the seven stolen from the Simon Says Pawn Shop on Sept. 14, according to case records.

The investigation revealed that Garcia sold the other stolen firearms to three separate drug dealers in Hartford in exchange for drugs and cash, Boyle said.

Garcia has been detained since his federal arrest on Sept. 23, 2019. On Dec. 9, 2020, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

On May 12, McEwen, of Vernon, pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen firearm. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 2.