Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Federal Jury Finds Hartford Man Guilty of Gun Offense
HARTFORD, Conn. — Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal jury in Hartford has found Denroy Fable, 40, of Hartford, guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. The trial before U.S. District Judge Omar A. Williams began on October 23 and the jury returned its verdict this afternoon.
According to the evidence presented during the trial, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Hartford Task Force and Hartford Police Department conducted an investigation of a business located at 136 Barbour Street in Hartford that was suspected of trafficking narcotics. The business, a purported clothing store, had an awning that read “The HOLE Ex-Con 360 the movement.” In October 2022, investigators made two controlled drug purchases of marijuana from the store.
On October 5, 2022, Fable and others were in the store when investigators conducted a court-authorized search of the store and seized quantities of suspected crack cocaine, psychedelic mushrooms, cocaine, marijuana, heroin, synthetic opioid pills, fentanyl pills disguised as oxycodone, MDMA, drug packaging and processing materials, U.S. currency and five handguns. One of the handguns seized, a loaded .380 semiautomatic pistol, was found in a pocket of Fable’s jacket that was hanging on a shelf. Subsequent forensic testing of the firearm revealed the presence of Fable’s DNA.
Fable’s criminal history in state convictions for criminal possession of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit, as well as federal convictions for possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon and possession with intent to distribute cocaine and crack. In March 2019, Fable was sentenced in New Haven federal court to 37 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release. He was released from prison in August 2020 and was on supervised release when he possessed the firearm in October 2022.
At sentencing, which is not scheduled, Fable faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years. He also faces additional penalties for violating the conditions of his supervised release.
Fable has been detained since October 5, 2022.
This investigation has been conducted by the DEA’s Hartford Task Force and the Hartford Police Department, with the assistance of the ATF and the Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory. The DEA Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office, the Connecticut State Police and the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Enfield, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor Locks and Willimantic Police Departments. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys A. Reed Durham and Brendan J. Keefe.
###