Man sentenced to 29 years in prison for role in kidnapping, killing

A Waterbury man has been sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for his role in the kidnapping and murder of a Massachusetts man whose body was found in a burning car in Hartford in 2020.

Calvin Roberson, 41, also known as “Cutty,” was handed down a 29-year prison term during a hearing Tuesday in federal court in Hartford, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut. His prison term will be followed by five years of supervised release, federal officials said.

The sentencing comes after Roberson last April pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping and causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm in connection with the death of 28-year-old Francisco Roman Jr. He hasbeenheldincustodysincefebruary 2021.

On Dec. 24, 2020, Roberson and Brandon Batiste kidnapped Roman at gunpoint from his Chicopee, Massachusetts,residenceandthreatened to hurt him if he didn’t cooperate, federal officials said. They handcuffed him before stealing cash, marijuana and other unspecified items, according to officials.

Roberson and Batiste then reportedly forced Roman into his 2010 Acura ZDX and drove to Connecticut with him in the rear of the vehicle, federal officials said. Authorities said Batiste, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, shot and killed Roman during the car ride.

Roman’s body was left in the vehicle on Shultas Place in Hartford, where the car was found engulfed in flames shortly before 9 p.m. Dec. 26, 2020, according to officials.

Federal officials said Roberson and Batiste, after ditching the body, drove a separate car to an apartment in Waterbury that Roberson shared with Shamari Smith. There, they took most of the property stolen during the robbery into the apartment.

According to officials, Smith lied toinvestigatorsaboutwhatsheknew regarding the robbery and killing and about her role in disposing of the stolen property. After pleading guilty to misprision of a felony, she wassentencedto25monthsinprison last October.

Batiste, who pleaded guilty to the same charges as Roberson, was sentenced in December to 42 years in prison.

When Roberson pleaded guilty last April, he had already pleaded guilty earlier that month in Hampden Superior Court in Massachusetts in connection with three shooting deaths that took place in Springfield, between 2006 and 2017, according to authorities. The manslaughter charges he pleaded guilty to were connected to the deaths of Springfield residents Loan Nguyen, Yonaides Pichardo and his brother David Pichardo.

Itwasnotimmediatelycleartuesday if Roberson has faced sentencing in those cases.