Anthony Parowski has been in jail for more than six months on charges he was the getaway driver in the gunpoint robbery of a Shelton convenience store last year.
But that didn’t stop the 24-year-old Stratford man from smiling and waving to a dozen or so family members as he was led into a courtroom to be sentenced in the case Wednesday.
It’s just part of who he is, they said afterward.
“He is such a good kid,” his mother, Cathy Marino, said. “(The robbery case) is so out of his character.”
Wednesday’s proceeding brought an end to a bizarre case.
At first glance a somewhat straightforward stickup, the police probe of the robbery uncovered attempted insurance fraud, a planned arson that never happened, and an informant subsequently charged in a vicious assault, according to court documents.
Judge Richard Arnold, who presided over Parowski’s sentencing, characterized it as “convoluted to say the least.”
The Crime
In May, Parowski pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine to conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, criminal possession of a firearm, and possession of marijuana in connection to the case.
Under Alford, a defendant does not admit all the facts in the case but concedes there is enough evidence for a conviction at trial.
Parowski and another Stratford man, George Siler, robbed the Buck Stop convenience store at 429 Shelton Ave. the night of Dec. 9, police said.
A warrant in the case says Siler went into the store, yelled “Give me the money! Give me the money!” at the clerk, and fired a shot into the floor inside the store.
The pair made off with $1,300, according to the warrant.
Judge Arnold sentenced Parowski Wednesday to a 10-year prison term to be suspended after Parowski serves four years behind bars, followed by three years of probation.
The sentence had been agreed on by prosecutors and Parowski’s lawyer, James Kearns.
In court Wednesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Charles Stango echoed comments he made last month at the sentencing of Siler, Parowski’s co-defendant, who got a five-year prison sentence as part of a plea deal.
Stango told Judge Richard Arnold that Parowski has caring family members who have attended all of his court dates.
“Oftentimes there are situations where people come before you in this court but don’t have any kind of support system whatsoever,” Stango said. “Mr. Parowski is not one of those young men.”
“When he gets out he’ll have some folks looking out for him,” Stango added, looking back to Parowski’s family.
The Investigation
The picture of Parowski that emerged Wednesday stands in stark contrast to way he was portrayed by police in documents filed in court while pursuing his arrest.
According to one of the warrants in the case, police got a break the day after the Dec. 9 robbery, when they found the car allegedly used in the stickup less than a mile away on Beacon Hill Terrace.
It had been reported stolen from an Ansonia residence the morning before.
While tracking down that lead, the warrant says an informant called a detective investigating the case out of the blue, saying he knew who had robbed the store and didn’t want to get blamed for it.
The informant told the detective that the vehicle’s owner, an Ansonia woman, had hired him the day before to take her car and burn it so she could collect the insurance money.
For whatever reason, the informant never went through with the burning.
“He then chose not to do it, and essentially subcontracted the job out to Mr. Parowski and Mr. Siler,” Stango said in court Wednesday.
But apparently Parowski and Siler had cold feet about torching the car, too. Instead, they used it for the robbery and then ditched it nearby.
Both were under arrest within two days of the robbery, and have been behind bars since.
Sentence And Reaction
Stango said Wednesday’s disposition took into account the fact that, if the matter had gone to trial, the state’s case “would have been built in large part on testimony from the confidential informant.”
That could have created credibility issues, because the informant has pending charges in connection to a Shelton assault case.
Stango said he also considered the fact that Parowski didn’t go into the convenience store during the robbery, and his lack of an extensive criminal record, in crafting the disposition.
“Mr. Parowski has a criminal history, but nothing like this,” Stango said.
Judge Arnold agreed, noting a couple of motor vehicle matters and a marijuana possession conviction on Parowski’s record.
Still, the judge said, the case involved a convenience store holdup, “of which we have plenty.” He said he does not deal lightly in such cases, because “some of them have resulted in murder of clerks.”
In addition to the four-year prison term, Judge Arnold ordered Parowski to undergo substance abuse evaluation and treatment and random drug tests while on probation.
He must also seek and maintain a job of at least 25 hours per week or do 200 hours of community service, the judge said.
Afterward, Marino held back tears when describing visiting her son every week at Bridgeport Correctional Center.
“He does not belong there,” she said. “He doesn’t deserve to be there at all.”
Marino placed the blame for the robbery on Siler, and said that her son had previously wanted to go to trial in the case.
But Kearns, Parowski’s lawyer, said after the sentencing that any trial would have entailed testimony from Terry and Siler, and that his client figured it was in his best interests to take the deal on the table.
