Man Who Stole Vehicle Containing Cremated Remains of Victim's Son Sentenced: Officials

A man who was accused of a carjacking in Hartford in 2018 has been sentenced to seven years in prison. Federal officials said he carjacked a woman and stole the vehicle that the cremated remains of the victim’s son were in.

Arno Smith, 60, of Hartford, approached the woman as she was sitting in her 2006 Honda in a Hartford parking lot around 11 p.m. on July 26, 2018, pressed what the woman believed was a gun against her neck and grabbed her purse, according to a news release from Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

After the woman got out of the car, Smith pointed the weapon her, told her to walk away, and then drove away in the car, with the cremated remains of the victim’s son in the vehicle, according to federal authorities.

Smith tried to use the victim’s credit card at two locations in Bristol, federal officials said.

He was arrested on state charges on Sept. 20, 2018, and was sitting in the victim’s car when he was arrested, federal officials said. The remains of the victim’s son weren’t in the car and have not been recovered.

Smith was also suspected of committing robberies at businesses in Bristol, Southington, Hartford, Bloomfield, South Windsor and Windsor Locks between July 27 and Sept. 19, 2018, according to the United States Attorney.

He has been detained since he was arrested and pleaded guilty on Oct. 6, 2020 to one count of Hobbs Act robbery.

Smith was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for the 2018 carjacking.