(Bridgeport, CT – March 21, 2013) – Two known gang members were charged this week in connection with a 2012 robbery that police preempted.
Frederick Whitaker, 27, of Stratford, and Clarence Hardy, 24, of Bridgeport, were brought from prison to Superior Court where they were arraigned Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery.  Both had been jailed since their October arrest on related weapons charges.
The arrest was made by the State Police Gang Unit.
According to Bridgeport Sgt. Jason Amato, the unit developed information that two known members of the Bloods gang were planning an armed robbery.
On Oct. 24, Amato learned the pair was driving to Bridgeport to pick up two guns and then planned to travel to Milford to meet a man who wanted to sell them two semi-automatic pistols.
Whitaker and Hardy planned to rob this man of his firearms and money. The pair had gotten their guns and they were en route to Milford to commit the robbery when the gang unit, assisted by Bridgeport patrol officers and K-9 Officer Mark Martocchio, intercepted them at a gas station on Boston Avenue.
“Usually, it is hard to quantify how many crimes are prevented by good police work,” said Police Chief Joseph L. Gaudett Jr. “In this case, however, we know that a violent robbery did not happen because of our intervention.”
Police recovered two loaded firearms from the car and charged them with the gun offenses. They were jailed on $100,000 bond. Police this month submitted the warrant for the planned robbery . A judge set bond at $75,000 on the new conspiracy counts.