Local News

Gardner Heist ‘Person of Interest’ Arrested

A. Ryan McGuigan, attorney for Robert Gentile, spoke outside federal court in Hartford on Friday. AP

A Connecticut man federal officials believe is connected to the still-unsolved Gardner Museum art heist was arrested on gun charges on Friday.

Federal officials said Robert Gentile, 78, sold a gun to an undercover officer, the Hartford Courant reported. Described by the paper as “overweight and nearly crippled from an old back injury,’’ Gentile was named as a person of interest in the 1990 robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum last year. He has vociferously denied that he had anything to do with the case or has any knowledge of where the priceless stolen artworks are.

In 2012, Gentile was arrested and charged with selling controlled substances and illegally possessimg firearms. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison in 2013.

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Gentile’s lawyer, A. Ryan McGuigan, told the Associated Press that he strongly believed Gentile’s most recent arrest was related to the FBI’s belief that he was involved in the Gardner heist.

Read the full Hartford Courant story here.

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