East Hartford man admits planning crack sales in Vernon
Mar. 6—An East Hartford man admitted in Vernon Superior Court on Thursday that he possessed cocaine with the intent to sell it in Vernon in July while on probation for conspiring in a 2018 robbery at an East Hartford motel.
The man, Todd Fitzgerald Jones, 28, of Governor Street in East Hartford, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for the drug crime and for violating probation conditions, according to an audio recording of the hearing.
Judge Hope C. Seeley imposed the sentence in accordance with a plea agreement between Tolland County State's Attorney Matthew C. Gedansky and Jones, represented by Public Defender David I. Channing.
Jones' latest arrest stemmed from an investigation by the East Central Narcotics Task Force, which got information that someone known as "T.J." was selling crack cocaine in Vernon, Gedansky said during the hearing.
During a police stop of Jones' car in Vernon, he was accompanied by Crystal Hamilton, who is in her mid-20s and also lived on Governor Street in East Hartford, and two children, ages 3 and 6, who were in the back seat, the prosecutor said.
Officers saw Jones pass something to Hamilton, who put it behind her back, Gedansky continued.
Police found eight bags of fentanyl and a small amount of crack in the car's driver's door and more fentanyl on the passenger's seat, the prosecutor said. Behind Hamilton's back, police found 8.6 grams of crack and 20 bags of fentanyl, according to Gedansky, who said the amount of crack was far more than the 0.1 to 0.2 grams that would be consistent with personal use.
Hamilton told police that she owned the drugs, and Jones agreed, denying he owned them, Gedansky said.
Nevertheless, Jones admitted in court Thursday that he was guilty of possessing the crack with the intent to sell it, rather than using a legal mechanism that would have enabled him to avoid doing so.
In the robbery for which he was on probation, Jones and Darnell J. Walker, now 28, of East Hartford confronted a man they believed was a prostitution customer at the Madison Motor Inn on Main Street in East Hartford on Aug. 27, 2018. Accounts of the incident agreed that Walker had two guns, while there was no report of Jones carrying a gun.
Jones was on probation at the time of the robbery for a burglary in Manchester the year before. But he received another sentence of probation without immediate prison time after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree robbery.
Although Gedansky said Jones' record on probation was far from perfect — including positive drug tests and failures to report to his probation officer — the prosecutor said the real reason he was charged with violating probation conditions was the Vernon drug offense.
Drug charges and a charge of risk of injury to a child are pending against Hamilton. She is free on more than $100,000 bond in that and other cases.
Jones has been in jail, unable to post bond, since his arrest, and Gedansky said he will get credit for that time against his sentence.
Channing said Jones has been fighting a drug problem for some time, which turned into a fentanyl addiction while he was on probation.
Jones admitted that he "messed up quite a bit" but said he has been spending his time in jail reading educational books. He added that he is a licensed carpenter.
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