Hamden man who embezzled $300K can’t get sentence reduced

Lawyer argues racial factors at play in Black client’s sentence

MILFORD — A panel of judges rejected a request from a Black Hamden man behind bars for swindling more than $300,000 out of investment clients to have his prison sentence reduced on the grounds that white defendants convicted of stealing more money received more le- nient sentences.

Travis Smith, 45, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree larceny, and tearfully apologized to his victims at state Superior Court in Middletown in June 2022 before Judge Julia DiCocco Dewey sentenced him to serve 12 years to be suspended after he serves seven years in prison, followed by five years of probation.

At the sentencing, the victims, from Milford and Durham, told the judge of how Smith earned their trust, and then betrayed it, leaving them hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hole financially.

“This was not a random crime and it wasn’t a momentary lapse in judgment. This was deliberate and premeditated,” one of the victims said. “I will never fully recover from this.”

In court filings last year, Smith and his lawyer asked the Judicial Branch’s Sentence Review Division to reduce the sentence from seven to five years, citing statistics they said showed Smith’s sentence was “excessive” and disproportionate to others. The lawyer, Alexander Taubes, also noted that the law “punishes larceny from governments or charities more harshly than larceny from individuals.”

In a seven-page decision this month following a hearing in November, a panel of three judges — Robin Pavia, Alex Hernandez, and Kevin Doyle — denied Smith’s request. Taubes filed a motion asking them to elaborate on their decision.

In a memorandum filed in the case, the attorney pointed to others, like Michael DiMassa, a former state representative who conspired with others to steal more than $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds from the city of West Haven, who was sentenced in a federal court to serve 27 months in prison last May.

“Thefts of much larger magnitude have been punished with much shorter prison sentences than Mr. Smith’s sentence, in the range of one to two years,” the memorandum said.

“You can look across many, many, many examples,” Taubes said during an interview Monday, pointing to statistics compiled by Smith’s original public defenders.

In state court, former Oxford Tax Collector Karen Guillet was sentenced to serve four years in prison in 2012 after pleading guilty to first-degree larceny for embezzling nearly $250,000. Two years later, Sharon Scanlon, a former employee of the Shelton finance office, was sentenced to serve four and a half years — which she served less than half of — after pleading guilty to first-degree larceny for stealing nearly $1 million from city coffers.

Taubes said there are racial factors at play, noting Smith is Black and defendants like DiMassa, Guillet, and Scanlon are white.

“If you look at the sentencing statistics in Connecticut, they remain stubbornly discriminatory based upon color of skin, and ethnic group,” he said. “And this was a particularly egregious case of disparity in sentencing where it’s very hard to understand why other than the color of his skin.”

Prosecutors declined to comment on Smith’s case Wednesday.

In the decision denying Smith’s request, the three judges said that the issue of proportionality “is only one factor to be considered.”

“Based upon a review of the procedural history, the facts of the offenses, the nature and seriousness of the offenses of conviction and the observations and findings of Judge Dewey, it is apparent that the sentencing court thoroughly and thoughtfully considered all aspects of the record before it,” the decision said. “It is equally apparent that the court took into consideration counsel’s arguments, the petitioner’s background, the views of the victims as well as the serious nature of the offenses and the length and types of sentences available to the sentencing court.”

Taubes said the panel’s decision read like perfunctory boilerplate.

“There was no analysis,” he said. “It’s pretty disappointing when you consider it took three judges 100 days to write that.”

In his subsequent motion, the attorney asked the panel to expand on its decision, which he said “fails to address the substantial arguments made by the Defendant regarding the racial imbalance in the Defendant’s sentence, the disparity in the Defendant’s sentence compared to other cases, and the public interest in reducing the Defendant’s sentence.”

“The length of time required for the Division’s decision, paired with the paucity of its analysis, both renders appellate review impossible and harms the appearance of justice and fairness,” Taubes wrote.

Depending on what happens, he said he’ll pursue further appeals on Smith’s behalf. He said Smith is a father who had no criminal record before his 2022 guilty pleas and could be employed and earning money toward restitution instead of costing taxpayers to keep him incarcerated.

“He could have made money and paid back money by now,” Taubes said. “Having him languish in jail is ridiculous.”

Milford Police Department A panel of judges rejected a request from Travis Hamden, behind bars for swindling more than $300,000 out of investment clients, to have his prison sentence reduced on the grounds that white defendants convicted of stealing more money received more lenient sentences.