A Willimantic man has pleaded guilty to charges related to the theft of firearms and drug offenses, according to Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Kwitzpatrick Duffany, 37, admitted guilt in a New Haven federal court following his involvement in stealing 38 guns from a Newington gun store in 2023.
Court documents reveal that on May 27, 2023, Duffany broke into Hoffman's Gun Store during non-business hours by accessing the balcony over the main entrance. He cut through the siding with a knife and entered through the ceiling. Surveillance footage captured him filling duffel bags with firearms before exiting through the same hole. Afterward, Duffany traveled to Hartford with two others where he exchanged several stolen guns for cash and drugs. In subsequent days, he sold most of the remaining weapons for money and narcotics or gave them to others to sell.
Duffany was apprehended by Connecticut State Police in Ashford early on June 1, 2023. Surveillance from a nearby gas station showed him concealing a satchel in a soda display case shortly before his arrest. The recovered satchel contained a loaded Smith and Wesson 9mm handgun and drugs; the firearm had been stolen from Hoffman's Gun Store.
Duffany faces up to ten years imprisonment for theft of firearms from a licensee and up to twenty years for possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. His sentencing is set for April 28.
The investigation involves collaboration between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Newington Police Department, Connecticut State Police, and Willimantic Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert S. Dearington is prosecuting this case.
Acting U.S. Attorney Silverman expressed gratitude towards "the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of New Britain for its cooperation in investigating and prosecuting this matter."