Hartford Man Who Threatened Tow Truck Operator with Gun Sentenced to 27 Months in Federal Prison

U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Connecticut
8 January 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that LUIS QUINTANA, 28, of Hartford, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 27 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for threatening a tow truck operator with a gun.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on July 29, 2018, Quintana pointed a firearm at a tow truck operator who had started the process of towing Quintana’s car, which had been improperly parked in a private lot on Garden Street in Hartford. After the tow truck operator removed the car from the tow hitch and Quintana walked away, the victim’s partner called police. Officers responded to the scene, apprehended Quintana who was nearby, and retrieved a loaded Ruger P95 9mm millimeter handgun that Quintana had discarded as police arrived.

Quintana’s criminal history includes felony convictions for possession of narcotics with intent to sell, and carrying a pistol without a permit.

It is a violation of federal law for a person previously convicted of a felony offense to possess a firearm or ammunition that has moved in interstate or foreign commerce.

Quintana has been detained since his federal arrest on October 24, 2018. On August 16, 2019, he pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Connecticut Violent Crime Task Force and the Hartford Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Clark and Michael Gustafson.

This prosecution has been brought through Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make neighborhoods safer for everyone.