A Waterbury man implicated in a chilling plot that led to a kidnapping and a fatal shooting has been hit with a nearly three-decade prison stint, federal prosecutors said. Calvin "Cutty" Roberson, 41, was sentenced to 29 years behind bars for his role in the 2020 murder of Francisco Roman, Jr., a Massachusetts resident.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, Roberson, alongside accomplice Brandon Batiste, snatched Roman from his home in Chicopee, Massachusetts on Christmas Eve, a crime that unfolded with threats, handcuffs, and theft of cash and marijuana before Roman was shot dead while being transported in his own car and then the car finding its end in flames on a Hartford street two days later.
Roberson, who has been in custody since his February 2021 arrest, admitted to the conspiracy and murder charges last April, sealing his fate. Co-conspirator Batiste has already received a 42-year sentence for his part in the grim saga, while Shamari Smith, Roberson's apartment co-occupant implicated in aiding the criminal aftermath, served 25 months after pleading guilty to misprision of a felony.
Justice was served after rigorous inquiry led by an interagency task force including the FBI, the Massachusetts State Police, Hartford and Chicopee police departments, and supported by the Waterbury Police, among others, crafting a net that cinched tight around the perpetrators a harrowing narrative that left a community shaken and a family without their son; before the justice system swung its gavel, exacting years of freedom taken for each moment of merciless planning and execution.
The case was prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section with Assistant U.S. Attorney Angel M. Krull and Trial Attorney Brian P. Leaming helming the charge, ensuring that the consequences for such violent transgressions reflect the severity of the acts committed.
