Until Sept. 30—

Ex-Cop Court Cases Continued

By Andrew Gorosko

DANBURY — The two former Newtown police officers, who each have been charged with multiple felonies in connection with their alleged theft of funds from the Newtown Police Union’s financial accounts, have had their cases continued to late September in Danbury Superior Court.

Both Andrew Stinson, 35, of Watertown, and Domenic Costello, 33, of Stratford, who were at court for August 8 appearances, had their cases continued to September 30.

The September appearances will mark the eighth time that their names have appeared on the court docket.

On September 30, the cases are scheduled for their first “supervised pretrial conference” at which a judge would supervise discussions among the prosecutor and the defense attorneys over the resolution of the companion cases. At such sessions, possible plea agreements to a resolve a case may be discussed.

State’s Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III is the prosecutor. Mr Stinson is represented by attorney James Diamond; Mr Costello’s lawyer is John Gulash.

Both ex-police officers have pleaded not guilty to all felonies which are pending against them. Both men have elected to have jury trials.

According to court documents, approximately $187,307 was stolen from police union accounts. Of that sum, Mr Stinson is listed as being responsible for $95,668 of the missing money, and Mr Costello for $91,639 of the missing funds.

Mr Stinson has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny, three counts of first-degree larceny, one count of second-degree larceny, and one count of third-degree larceny.

Mr Stinson, an ex-patrol officer and police dog handler, formerly was the police union’s president. He has declined to comment on the case.

Mr Costello has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny; two counts of first-degree larceny; one count of accessory to first-degree larceny; and one count of third-degree larceny.

Mr Costello, an ex-sergeant, formerly served as the police union’s treasurer. Similarly, he has declined to comment on the pending case.

Following a five-month investigation, Danbury police charged Mr Stinson and Mr Costello with the offenses on March 16. Danbury police conducted the probe on behalf of the Newtown Police Department.

Arrest warrant affidavits for Mr Stinson and Mr Costello describe the Newtown Police Union’s learning last October that it was missing large sums of money due to illegitimate withdrawals from union financial accounts by the two former police officers.

During a police investigation into the missing money, the two police officers explained that they had “borrowed” money from union accounts to cover personal expenses and intended to pay back the union.

“Both Stinson and Costello admitted that they did take out ‘personal loans’ to help with personal problems,” according to the court papers.