By Tiffany Williams –
HARTFORD, Conn. — A Facebook Marketplace setup turned into a gunpoint nightmare, and now Frederick Wright, 34, of Hartford, will spend 15 years in federal prison for it.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea sentenced Wright to 180 months behind bars and four years of supervised release for orchestrating a string of armed robberies targeting people who thought they were buying a car. Instead, they walked into a trap.
Court documents show Wright posted vehicles for sale online, arranged meetups, allowed test drives and negotiated prices like a legitimate seller. But the moment cash changed hands, prosecutors say Wright pulled a firearm, threatened to shoot, and stole the money — sometimes grabbing other valuables too. Between July and November 2020, at least five victims in Windsor and Bloomfield were robbed in the scheme.
When authorities arrested Wright on November 24, 2020, they searched his Hartford residence and seized a loaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol used in the robberies.
This wasn’t a first offense. Wright’s criminal history includes felony convictions for attempted robbery in the first degree and failure to appear. He was on state special parole when he carried out the 2020 robberies.
He pleaded guilty on February 1, 2022 to three counts of obstruction of interstate commerce by robbery, two counts of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Judge Shea also ordered Wright to pay $14,429 in restitution to his victims — people who thought they were answering a simple online ad and instead found themselves staring down a gun barrel.