David X. Sullivan, the United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, has announced that Anthony Pena, also known as "Tony," from Miami Gardens, Florida, was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. The sentencing was handed down by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford for Pena's role in a violent kidnapping incident that occurred in Danbury last summer.
Court documents and statements reveal that on August 25, 2024, multiple witnesses reported seeing several males assaulting another male and forcing him into a white work van in Danbury. When officers attempted to stop the van on Clapboard Ridge Road near East Gate Road, it sped away and crashed about a mile away on Cowperthwaite Street. Pena, along with Angel Borrero and two other associates dressed in black, fled the scene on foot.
Upon reaching the van's location, officers discovered two victims bound with duct tape inside: a male victim who had significant injuries and a female victim. Both were transported to the hospital for further evaluation. The victims reported being forcibly removed from their Lamborghini Urus after it was rear-ended by a Honda Civic on Damia Drive. They were dragged into the van and assaulted by Pena and others with a baseball bat while being threatened with death.
Pena and his associates were apprehended within a quarter-mile of where the van crashed. Two additional associates were found at a short-term rental home in Roxbury alongside the Honda Civic used in the crime. A blood-stained baseball bat was recovered from both the car and an abandoned Lamborghini found off East King Street.
The kidnapping aimed to extort money from the victims' son, suspected of involvement in stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
Pena has been detained since his arrest and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping charges on January 10, 2025. Borrero and three other accomplices have also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
This case is under investigation by the FBI New Haven Violent Crimes Task Force alongside the Danbury Police Department. The prosecution is led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen L. Peck and John T. Pierpont Jr., with cooperation from local police departments and assistance from Connecticut State Police.
U.S. Attorney Sullivan expressed gratitude to the State’s Attorney’s Office for its collaboration during this investigation.