Press Releases
06/15/2022
Hamden Man Sentenced to Prison for Stealing More Than $300,000 from Investment Clients
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Middletown, CT) – Margaret E. Kelley, Ansonia/Milford State’s Attorney, announced today that Travis Smith, 44, of Hamden, was sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment for a series of yearslong larcenies against multiple families who had entrusted their retirement savings with him as a purported investment advisor.
Smith, was arrested by warrant for the multiple larcenies against two families, one in Milford and the other in Durham, in the spring of 2019. Detective Mitchell Warwick of the Milford Police Department, with assistance from civil counsel and the Connecticut Banking Commission, determined that Smith had repeatedly and persistently solicited the Milford and Durham victims to entrust their retirement savings with him over the course of many years, according to court documents. Only months after being entrusted with over $300,000 in retirement savings, Smith created a shell limited liability corporation and associated bank account into which he embezzled the entirety of each victim’s savings. Over the course of 2015 and 2016, Smith then spent extravagantly on himself, undertaking vacations to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and spending thousands of dollars of the victims’ money at the Mohegan Sun Casino.
Smith entered guilty pleas in each case to one count of Larceny in the First Degree in violation of Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-122(a)(2) in a capped plea agreement that contemplated a total effective sentence of 18 years suspended after 12 years with a right to argue for less followed by 5 years of probation.
On June 14, 2022, the Honorable Julia Dewey presided over sentencing for Smith, hearing from Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney Lawrence Scharpf and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Russell Zentner of the Middlesex Judicial District on behalf of the State, public defenders from Milford and Middletown on behalf of Smith, the victims, multiple members of Smith’s family and friends and ultimately from Smith himself.
After hearing from all parties, Judge Dewey sentenced Smith to a total effective sentence between the two cases of 18 years suspended after 7 years to serve followed by 5 years of probation with strict and specific conditions related to Smith’s requirements of providing restitution to the multiple victims. The victims were deeply appreciative of the efforts of the Offices of the Ansonia/Milford and Middlesex State’s Attorney and both satisfied with the sentence and grateful for the closure it brought them.