Embezzlement Case, Bank Robbery

Topped Police News In 2004

By Andrew Gorosko

In September, a former town worker, who had embezzled almost $90,000 in cash and checks from the public works department’s waste disposal accounts, was sentenced in Danbury Superior Court on a conviction for first degree larceny. 

Trisha Johnson, 23, of Southbury, had pleaded guilty to the felony charge the preceding month, acknowledging that she had embezzled the money across a one-year period to support a drug addiction.

Ms Johnson, who town police had arrested in March, was ordered by a judge to a serve five years of probation, receive up to five years of drug counseling, and make restitution to the town. Ms Johnson had spent approximately $34,000 in cash that she had stolen from the town, but did not cash the stolen checks, many of which were recovered by police. 

Technically, the judge gave Ms Johnson an eight-year suspended prison sentence. If Ms Johnson violates the terms of her five-year probation, she could spend eight years in jail.

The town, which has been reimbursed for losses by its insurance carrier, has cashed the stolen checks that were recovered.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal has said that safeguards will be in force to prevent such theft by a town worker in the future.

In another major theft, police are continuing their investigation into an April robbery at Fleet Bank (now Bank of America) at 6 Queen Street.

In a low-key bank robbery, during which people within Fleet Bank were unaware of what was happening, a lone man stole an unspecified amount cash from a female bank teller and then quietly slipped out the front door, eluding capture. The bank, which faces Queen Street, is in Newtown Shopping Village.

Police have said that they expect to receive an arrest warrant against a suspect in the case. The man also is a suspect in several other bank robberies in the state.

In July, a fatal industrial accident at the Meeting House at 31 Main Street killed one painter by electrocution and seriously burned another painter, when an aluminum ladder that they were handling made contact with an 8,000-volt live power line on the south side of the building. Ivan Patricio Tenecela-Velez, 25, of Port Chester, N.Y., died in the accident.

Town police and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated.

Last spring and summer, town police stepped up efforts to enforce underage drinking laws.

During 2004, police made 47 arrests for underage alcohol offenses, according to Police Chief Michael Kehoe.

During the year, the ad hoc group known as the Newtown Parent Connection intensified its efforts against underage drinking and drug abuse.

During 2004, Garner Correctional Institution, a high-security state prison for males on Nunnawauk Road, made a transition into a prison with a specialty in holding inmates with serious mental disorders. The prison experienced a series of violent inmate incidents as the transition was underway.

In November, to heighten their preparedness for possible prison emergencies, DOC staffers, town police, and state police staged a major training exercise in and near Garner, which simulated a variety of emergencies that could occur at the prison. Participants later set as goals improving communications among the three agencies, and also improving communications within those agencies to be better prepared for handling prison emergencies.

On the night of July 4, a Bridgeport man who was staging an illegal fireworks display in the Riverside section of town got much more than he bargained for when a large number of powerful fireworks positioned on a dock accidentally discharged, causing multiple simultaneous pyrotechnic explosions at ground level.

Several dozen people who were watching the display staged at Waterview Drive on the Housatonic River were aghast as the fireworks display suddenly, briefly ran amok, resulting in numerous 911 calls being placed to summon aid. Boaters on the river were also watching as the display erupted.

Police charged Stephen Audet, 35, of Bridgeport, who was launching the fireworks, with illegal possession of fireworks and with first-degree reckless endangerment. Audet received minor burns and scrapes in the incident.

In September, a prominent local man died due to injuries he suffered after he drove a sport-utility vehicle into oncoming traffic at the Exit 11 on-ramp of eastbound Interstate 84. Leonard J. Manz, 88, of 84 South Main Street had served as organist at Newtown Congregational Church and Newtown Meeting House.

During the fall, Queen Street residents upset over the volume, speed, and noise of traffic on that road brought their concerns to the Police Commission, urging that steps be taken to improve conditions on the street.

In 2004, the police department reached its full complement of 43 officers.

Police acquired a German shepherd, named Baro, who will go on evening patrol duty with Officer Andrew Stinson, after the dog is fully trained.

Police also purchased a new sport-utility vehicle in the form of a 2004 Ford Explorer XLT. The vehicle replaces a larger SUV. Unlike the former vehicle, the Explorer has stealth markings and concealed emergency lighting, which makes it inconspicuous until its emergency devices are switched on.

Also, police have proposed replacing their aging .40-caliber Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistols with new Glock .45-caliber handguns. The proposal is part of the police’s budget proposal for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

In May, the state legislature confirmed Sandy Hook resident John F. Blawie as a Connecticut Superior Court judge.

Fire Emergencies

As 2004 opened, environmental crews were continuing the extensive soil and groundwater cleanup work required at and near Canaan House at Fairfield Hills, after approximately 4,500 gallons of #2 home heating fuel leaked the previous month from an external fuel tank used in heating the town offices located in that building.

After most of the cleanup had concluded, the external heating system underwent a massive explosion and fire on a rainy April night, extensively damaging a wing of Canaan House that had housed the public school system’s alternative high school program. The school was forced to relocate.

In a tragic accident on Halloween night, a 7-year-old boy was severely burned while trick-or-treating, when his Halloween costume ignited after coming into contact with an open candle flame. Cary DeYoung of Gopher Road is recovering from his injuries. Cary is a student at Hawley School.

In 2004, two antique houses received extensive damage in house fires — one which was fought during extreme heat and humidity, and the other which occurred during frigid conditions.

An accidental fire destroyed the circa-1780 farmhouse home of State Representative Julia Wasserman on Walnut Tree Hill Road in Sandy Hook on a hot, humid May 11 afternoon.

Extinguishing the smoky blaze proved especially troublesome for firefighters, who repeatedly attacked the flames, as the fire continued to pop up in various sections of the two-story wood-frame structure at Medridge Farm at 113 Walnut Tree Hill Road.

Mrs Wasserman is constructing a new house nearby.

On the frigid night of December 20, about 60 firefighters from all five local fire companies joined forces to battle a stubborn blaze at an antique home on High Rock Road, which extensively damaged the structure.

The fire proved difficult to extinguish in the 1743 house at 22 High Rock Road. The house was used as a weekend residence by Richard Cichocki.

Several hours before that High Rock Road house fire, two tractor-trailer trucks, one of which was loaded with 8,800 gallons of gasoline, collided in an environmentally sensitive area along Wasserman Way.

An ExxonMobil gasoline tanker, which did not spill its load or catch fire, came to rest on the fringe of a marsh lying above the Pootatuck Aquifer, an underground public water supply. The gasoline tanker had narrowly missed colliding with an electric utility pole.

In 2003 and in 1996, gasoline tankers that were involved in accidents on South Main Street and on Dodgingtown Road, respectively, did not fare so well. The tankers ruptured, ignited, and exploded, causing extensive environmental property damage. The truck driver in the 1996 accident died.

Police and fire officials said it was very fortunate that the gasoline in the tanker in the December 20 accident on Wassermann way did not spill its load, burn and explode, considering its proximity to the public water supply.