Roving Con Must Serve Longer Term Sentenced To Prison In 1994, He Didn’t Report As Promised

A Spokane espresso shop owner who failed to report to prison in 1994 got an extra jolt Monday.

Darryl Hronek, 31, who owns Capone’s Espresso, 6740 N. Division, now must serve 11 years and five months in prison.

Hronek was convicted by a U.S. District Court jury in March 1994 of conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

He played a lead role in a scheme that provided rental homes to people who agreed to grow marijuana. Authorities seized more than 300 marijuana plants.

Because of the number of plants, Hronek faced a mandatory five-year prison sentence, which was doubled to 10 years because of a previous conviction.

U.S. District Judge Frem Nielsen agreed to allow Hronek to report on his own to a federal prison in Oregon.

When he failed to show up in the summer of 1994, the judge issued a federal escape warrant and the U.S. Marshals Service began looking for Hronek.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Johnson said investigators obtained court permission to obtain numbers called from specified telephones.

Eventually, deputy marshals learned that Hronek was using the alias Kevin Bell and traveling extensively, including visits to Canada.

He was stopped last July 4 for a traffic violation near Livingston, Mont. A Montana Highway Patrol officer learned that Bell, who had a Massachusetts driver’s license, was really Hronek.

“His fear simply got the best of him,” Hronek’s attorney, Mary Schultz, said in explaining to the judge why her client didn’t show up.

“He had reasons that made sense to him at the time,” Schultz said, but “they don’t make sense any more.”

She asked that Hronek only be given an extra year for his escape.

But Johnson urged the judge to impose a maximum 18-months.

“He’s a young, dangerous criminal who’s very intelligent,” Johnson said.

Hronek was only 21 when he became the first person in Washington state convicted of the crime of “leading organized crime,” Johnson said.

“He’s a substantial danger to the community,” Johnson said.

“I want to express my remorseful ness,” Hronek told the judge. “I feel terrible.”

, DataTimes