A CT man committed 34 armed robbers in three months. Authorities said he ‘enjoyed victims’ shock.’
A 26-year old New Britain man who committed 34 armed robberies during a three-month spree, was sentenced to 28 years in prison Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
Christian Luis Velez Ruiz said in court that he was forced to become a robber to support his wife and three young children. Federal prosecutors said he got a thrill from terrorizing his victims.
“That is the only explanation for the longevity and frequency of his robbery spree,” the government wrote in a sentencing memo filed with the court. “Velez enjoyed victims’ shock as he jammed a gun in their face, and he enjoyed taking their things and leaving them horrified and traumatized.”
The three month spree between September and December in 2021 came on the heels of an earlier burglary and larceny spree that ended in 2018 and resulted in Velez’s conviction in state court for 15 felonies and his imprisonment for an aggregate three years.
Velez launched his second crime spree after walking away from a halfway house where he had been sent after his release from prison.
State and federal authorities said Velez was involved, sometimes with associates, in 28 convenience store robberies, six armed carjackings, one attempted carjacking, the theft of three cars and, in the course of one theft, running over and nearly killing a police officer.
Local, state and federal police agencies identified Velez early in the spree, but he roved elusive, in spite of a $25,000 reward offered by the FBI in November 2021.
He has been detained since his arrest.
The police finally caught up to Velez in November 2021 as he sat in a parked car in New Britain. He tried to escape by ramming a police car, but ended up being run down by a police dog when he tried to flee on foot.
The dog caught up with him as he tried to carjack another vehicle.
Under plea bargain agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office, Velez pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery and two counts of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
One carjacking occurred on Sept. 2, 2021, when Velez stole at gunpoint a 2020 white Jeep Grand Cherokee from the driveway of a victim in Southington. One of the robberies occurred on Sept. 26, 2021, when Velez, who was armed, robbed a store at a Sunoco gas station in Bristol. Velez
pistol-whipped the store employee and stole money and cigarettes from the store.
In another robbery, on Oct. 7, 2021, Velez robbed – also at gunpoint – a store located at a Citgo gas station in Southington. Velez stole cash and cigarettes from the store. In pleading guilty, Velez took responsibility for all the offenses he committed during his crime spree.