Man admits gun thefts at South Windsor truck depot

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·3 min read

Jun. 15—A former employee of a South Windsor trucking depot admitted Tuesday to stealing merchandise last year that included at least two 9mm pistols and to illegally possessing two pistols after being convicted of felonies.

Shameik Camara, 32, of Hartford, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport to one count each of possessing guns after being convicted of a felony and receipt and possession of items from an interstate shipment, U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery announced.

GUN THEFTS

DEFENDANT: Shameik Camara, 32, of Hartford.

GUILTY PLEAS: Possessing guns after being convicted of a felony, receipt and possession of items from an interstate shipment.

STOLEN: At least two 9mm pistols and four high-end "bookshelf speakers."

CAMARA'S STATUS: Held without bond; sentencing scheduled for Sept. 6 in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.

The two sides in the case disagree as to what sentence is recommended by federal guidelines, an issue that Judge Sarah A.L. Merriam will decide when she imposes sentence Sept. 6.

Prosecutors Lauren C. Clark and A. Reed Durham contend that Camara's sentence range should be increased because one of the felony convictions that made it illegal for him to possess a gun was for a violent crime, according to his written plea agreement. The prosecutors argue that the guidelines call for Camara to get a prison sentence of 46 to 57 months, a little less than four years to 4 3/4 years.

Assistant Federal Defender Moira Buckley argues that the sentence increase doesn't apply and that the guidelines recommend a sentence of 2 to 2 1/2 years, according to the plea agreement.

In any case, both sides reserve the right to argue for a sentence outside the range called for by the guidelines.

Camara was briefly released on bond after his arrest last October, but he violated release conditions within hours of his release by failing to spend the night at his father's house in Wolcott.

A federal magistrate judge ordered Camara held without bond at that point, and he has been in jail since then, despite his lawyer's request in April that he be released to a residential substance abuse treatment program at Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.

Camara was an employee of R+L Carriers, a national trucking company with a freight warehouse at 540 Sullivan Ave., South Windsor, when a shipment of 50 9mm pistols was stolen in August.

The theft ultimately revealed multiple security lapses at the warehouse, including lack of surveillance cameras and a delay of more than a month in reporting the theft of the pistols.

A supervisor at the warehouse told federal agents that one of the doors to the building didn't lock, according to an agent's affidavit. The supervisor, who worked the 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, said that when he finished work on Saturday morning, he would lock other doors to warehouse and park two forklifts in front of the door that didn't lock, the agent reported.

Camara was arrested Oct. 28. He had two pistols at that time, one of them from the shipment stolen in August.

Efforts to reach R+L's media relations office have been unsuccessful.

After R+L officials reported the theft of the guns in mid-September, investigators identified Camara as a suspect based on Facebook Marketplace and Offer Up posts selling high-end speakers and sports trading cards similar to items stolen from the R+L warehouse around the time the guns were stolen.

Camara was arrested Oct. 28. He had two pistols at that time, one of them from the shipment stolen in August.

The felony convictions that make it illegal for Camara to possess a gun are for aiding or encouraging the commission of a third-degree robbery in 2007 and violating a family violence protective order in 2012, according to the indictment in the case.

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