Former East Hartford man avoids conviction in Windsor robbery; faces 5 years for thefts from Windsor Locks hotel

Dec. 17—A man has avoided — for now — being convicted in a 2020 Windsor gas station robbery that police say they broke up as it was taking place, but he is likely to get a five-year prison sentence for a big theft from a Windsor Locks hotel that was closed for renovations.

Eddie Gant, now 57, who has listed an address on Turtle Creek Lane in East Hartford, was charged with first-degree robbery and conspiracy in the Jan. 14, 2020 heist from the Mobil station at 356 Bloomfield Ave. in Windsor.

Prosecutor Richard Rubino said Friday that he had dropped those charges Tuesday in Hartford Superior Court because the store clerk who was robbed can't be found.

BIG THEFT

DEFENDANT: Eddie Gant, now 57, who has listed an address on Turtle Creek Lane in East Hartford

CONVICTION: Second-degree larceny

LIKELY SENTENCE: Five years in prison, followed by three years of special parole

Rubino said the clerk is facing his own criminal cases and has been ordered re-arrested for failing to appear in court when required. Authorities contacted the clerk's sister, who reported that she hadn't seen him in a year, the prosecutor said.

If the clerk remains missing, it will be impossible to convict Gant of the robbery, even though a police sergeant approached him after he returned to the Mobil station's property, desperately trying to escape the area after his getaway driver took off.

Gant had stolen the clerk's car keys before the sergeant approached him, and he jumped in the man's car and drove away, police say. But another officer stopped him in the driveway of a neighboring office building.

If the clerk re-appears within 13 months, authorities can revive the case against Gant.

Gant had a number of other criminal cases pending, and he pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree larceny in one of them. It was a theft from the Ramada Inn at 383 S. Center St. in Windsor Locks on June 9, 2020, while the hotel was being renovated.

The prosecutor said the two sides in the case have agreed that Gant should receive a five-year prison sentence, followed by three years of strict special parole. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 9.

The hotel theft was recorded on surveillance video. Although two of the thieves had their faces covered, an officer got the plate number of the stolen rental truck they were using, according to an affidavit by Windsor Locks police Sgt. Jeffrey Lampson.

A few days later, Manchester police stopped the truck and arrested the two occupants, one of whom was on parole and was returned to jail. Lampson later interviewed the man at the Hartford Correctional Center.

The man said he had been smoking crack the day before the hotel theft, when Gant told him he owed about $120. The man said he tried brushing him off, but Gant pulled a handgun.

Frightened, the man suggested that they go to the hotel, where he had worked when it was a Travelodge. He said he drove Gant and another man to the hotel in the truck, and that they went in through an open door.

He said they broke into two vending machines and an automated teller machine and took all the soda, snacks, and money from the vending machines. The ATM was empty, he added, but they took several tools from the hotel as well as 13 flat-screen television sets.

The hotel reported that its property losses and damage totaled almost $437,000, much of it stemming from damage to tile when the vending machines were tipped over. An insurance adjuster explained to police that the tile couldn't be matched and the entire lobby had to be re-tiled.

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