Waterbury Teen Sentenced For Federal Gun Trafficking
Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 1:45 P.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
HARTFORD, NJ.- A 19-year-old Waterbury, Connecticut, man found out that he will be spending the next three years in federal prison after being sentenced on Monday for selling stolen firearms to undercover Investigators in Waterbury, Connecticut.
According to U.S. Attorney David X. Sullivan, on Monday, June 9, 2025, Eduardo Cruz, 19, of Waterbury, Connecticut, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Michael P. Shea to 36 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release for his previously entered guilty plea to federal firearms trafficking violations.
Cruz, who has been in custody since his initial arrest last spring, appeared in Federal Court in Hartford, Connecticut, on March 7, 2025, and pleaded guilty to one count of Theft of Firearms from a Licensee; and one count of Firearms Trafficking.
According To Documents Filed With The District Court
According to charging documents filed with the District Court, during the early morning hours of March 15, 2024, Cruz and others drove a car into the entryway doors of Statewide Pawn Shop, federally licensed to sell firearms located in Salem, Connecticut, and stole 21 firearms from the store.
Later in the day, on March 15, 2024, undercover law enforcement Investigators made a controlled purchase of three of the stolen firearms from Cruz and a juvenile in Waterbury. Again, on March 18, 2024, Investigators purchased another of the stolen firearms from Cruz, who arrived at the meeting location with two additional juveniles. Cruz was taken into custody at that time, and law enforcement Investigators recovered two additional stolen firearms, one that was carried by one of the juveniles and one from Cruz’s vehicle.
During further investigation, two additional stolen firearms were also found in the home of one of Cruz’s associates on March 18, 2024. Thirteen of the stolen firearms have not been recovered to date.
