Missing Money—

Two Police Officers Under Criminal Investigation

By Andrew Gorosko

Two town police officers have been placed on paid administrative leave from their law enforcement jobs as a criminal investigation proceeds into their possible wrongdoing involving an unspecified but “substantial” amount of money missing from the Newtown Police Union’s financial accounts.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week that on October 15, he placed Patrol Officer Andrew Stinson, the police union president, and Sergeant Domenic Costello, the union treasurer, on indefinite leave from their police jobs.

Officer Stinson had resigned his union president’s position on October 11, the police chief said.

The police union is known as Local #3153, Council #15, AFSCME, AFL-CIO. The union currently has 43 members. Every police officer at the police department, except the chief and the captain, is represented by the union.

In the absence of Officer Stinson, Patrol Officer Scott Ruszczyk, the union vice president, will serve as the union’s acting president. Detective Daniel McAnaspie is the union secretary.

Although the two officers on leave will be paid their salaries while off work, they have surrendered their police badges, police identification, and police-issued handguns, and will not have police powers while on leave, Chief Kehoe said.

According to town financial documents, Sgt Costello’s current annual base salary is $70,367, and Officer Stinson’s annual base salary is $65,524. All police officers covered by the union labor contract are scheduled to receive two percent pay raises on January 1, 2011. The two officers’ paid leave payments would be based upon their base salaries.

Town financial documents indicate that Sgt Costello received an overall payment of $86,586 for the 2009-10 fiscal year, and that Officer Stinson received an overall payment of $83,842 for that fiscal year. Those amounts reflect their base salaries, overtime pay, private duty pay, and other miscellaneous police-related income.

“The Newtown Police Department has begun a criminal investigation regarding financial irregularities within the Newtown Police Union. The investigation was begun after a preliminary review of financial records was undertaken by members of the Newtown Police Union and brought to the attention of the chief of police. The review centered on financial activities going back several years,” Chief Kehoe said in a statement.

The investigation will focus on checks and cash that are “unaccounted for,” the police chief said. The chief declined to discuss the possible scope of the situation. “I don’t want to speculate,” he said.

The two men have had prominent posts at the police department, holding positions that often brought them into contact with the general public.

Officer Stinson, 34, joined the police department in July 2001. Officer Stinson, who is the department’s K-9 officer, handles the police’s German shepherd known as Baro. Officer Stinson often demonstrated Baro’s prowess to various community groups. Officer Stinson received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Western Connecticut State University in 1998.

Sgt Costello, 32, became a town police officer in October 2003. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant in May 2009. A former school resource officer, Sgt Costello has conducted the police department’s Citizen Police Academy program. The free annual program provides the public with an overview of local enforcement as it relates to the criminal justice system. Sgt Costello is trained as a lawyer, having received a law degree from Quinnipiac University in 2002.

Union Statement

The Newtown Police Union in a statement issued this week announced that it is “cooperating with local authorities investigating financial improprieties involving police union accounts.”

In that statement, Officer Ruszczyk said that union officials had become aware early in the week of October 11 that “union funds may have been misappropriated by former union officials over the last three years.”

The investigation is focusing “upon the handling of union funds by Stinson and union treasurer Domenic Costello,” he added.

“A preliminary audit of union books has shown that a substantial amount of union funds are unaccounted for,” Officer Ruszczyk said.

The union held an emergency meeting on October 15 at which local union members discussed the situation with representatives of the union’s state parent organization, known as Council 15.

“Union leaders are working together with state union leaders and police investigators to recoup the missing funds, and will seek criminal prosecution of anyone believed to be involved in the missing money,” according to the union statement.

Based on the preliminary investigation, the union believes that only Officer Stinson and Sgt Costello are involved with the missing funds, according to the statement. 

“As police officers and members of the Newtown community, we are fully aware of how vital it is for the community to have trust in us. We are shocked and hurt by what looks like a terrible act of betrayal from our union brothers, but we will work with all authorities to recoup our losses and see that anyone who may have committed a crime be prosecuted,” Officer Ruszczyk said in the statement.

Danbury PD

Chief Kehoe said that the Danbury Police Department will be conducting the criminal investigation into the missing money.

The Danbury Police Department is very well suited to conduct an investigation involving possible financial crimes, Chief Kehoe said. “They have experts on [investigating] financial crimes on staff,” he said.

“They will do a professional and thorough job,” he said. “There was a very high priority on this…We needed to go outside the [police] department with the investigation, ” he added.

In the past, Danbury police aided Newtown police in investigating financial crimes stemming from the operations of the now-defunct Newtown Oil Company.

On a parallel track, Newtown police are conducting an internal administrative investigation into the missing money from union accounts, Chief Kehoe said.

 

Police Dog Also Stands Down

Chief Kehoe explained that Baro the police dog continues living with Officer Stinson while he is on leave from his post. Police dogs form a close bond with the handlers with whom they live.

“We are investigating all avenues and aspects,” the police chief said of the dog’s future.

 Although Baro would not be on duty while Officer Stinson is on leave, the town police department can call in police dogs from other area towns or from the state police, when needed, the chief said.

No other town police officers are now able to handle Baro for law enforcement duty, Chief Kehoe said, as the police department practices a “one dog/one master” approach in its police dog training, he said.

 If Officer Stinson is not working for the town as its police dog handler, then Baro is not working as the town’s police dog, Chief Kehoe said.

To meet the dog’s needs, the town transports Baro in a specially modified Ford Crown Victoria police patrol car. If necessary, the town would alter that patrol car to make it suitable for routine police patrol work, Chief Kehoe said.

Establishing a town police officer as a new dog handler for Baro would be a time-consuming and expensive proposition, the chief said.

For the time being, Baro will continue living with Officer Stinson, the police chief said.

 “This is new territory for all of us,” Chief Kehoe said of the two officers being investigated for possible criminal activity.

There are many documents to review, the police chief said of the work involved in investigating possible financial crimes.

The union conducts an annual fundraising project in town among residents and businesses which generates many financial documents. That fundraising is done through direct mailings.

“It’s a lot of ‘uncertainty’ that all officers face at this point,” Chief Kehoe said, noting that such an emotion confronts both the town police on the job and the two men who have been placed on leave while under investigation.