NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A Meriden man who committed a violent armed robbery spree in 2021 was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Monday, according to the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Kenneth Michael Strothers, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven. The sentence is followed by three years of supervised release, Public Affairs Officer Tom Carson reported on Tuesday.
Carson said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several local police departments investigated a series of armed robberies that happened throughout Connecticut in early 2021, according to court documents and statements made in court.
The investigation found that Strothers committed at least 10 robberies over a two-week period in Meriden, Cromwell, West Hartford, Newington, Wethersfield and New Britain, Carson said.
“The robberies typically involved Strothers stealing a vehicle, selecting and entering a store, threating victims with a firearm, making demands, and, in some instances, beating the victims with the gun before robbing them, causing significant injury and trauma,” Carson wrote.
The final robberies of Strothers’ spree occurred in Wethersfield and New Britain.
On Feb. 9, 2021, Strothers arrived at the Valero gas station store at 930 Silas Deane Highway in Wethersfield, pistol-whipped the store clerk in the head with his firearm, stole about $260 from two cash registers and fled the scene in a broken car, Carson said.
The store clerk was hospitalized with a serious head wound, according to Carson.
The next day, Strothers entered Broad Street Pawn at 210 Broad St. in New Britain, pistol-whipped another store employee in the head, stole around $2,000 and fled the scene with two associates in a stolen truck. Carson said that three children of the store owner hid in a bathroom during the robbery.
Strothers was taken into custody by law enforcement on Feb. 12, 2021, and has been detained in state custody since his arrest, Carson said, adding that investigators seized the handgun he used during the robberies.
Strothers pleaded guilty to two counts of interference with commerce by robbery on Feb. 26. The 14-year federal sentence includes the three-plus years that Strothers has spent in state custody since his arrest, Carson said.
In addition to the FBI, the New Britain Police Department, the Wethersfield Police Department, the Newington Police Department, the Cromwell Police Department, the West Hartford Police Department, the Meriden Police Department, and the Connecticut department of Corrections collaborated on the investigation.
Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
---
Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com.
----
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.
