Shelton police officer Loren Casertano had a Monroe jeweler fake a receipt for an iPod engraving to present as evidence in his fifth-degree larceny case at Superior Court in Derby.
That’s what state police said in an arrest warrant made available this week after Casertano’s arraignment for his Jan. 12 arrest for allegedly fabricating evidence.
Casertano and his wife, Kim Marie, were both arrested Jan. 12. They appeared in court Monday. Both cases were continued to Feb. 26.
Casertano, in a federal lawsuit filed in November, claims the criminal charges are retribution for his attempts to expose alleged corruption in the department.
But state police, in the separate warrants for the larceny and fabricating evidence charges, said Casertano lied about the details of the theft of his daughter’s iPod to get money from the family of the girl who stole it.
Background
Casertano’s case has been ongoing since he was arrested for allegedly extorting money from his daughter’s school mate in 2008.
Casertano’s daughter had her iPod stolen from Shelton Intermediate School in March 2008. When Shelton police determined who stole the iPod, they arrested the juvenile.
Loren Casertano said the iPod the juvenile presented to police was not his daughters, and police asked the juvenile to pay restitution to the Casertano family.
But, according to the first arrest warrant, Casertano lied about how much the iPod was worth and received a payment for double what his family paid for it.
Casertano has pleaded not guilty to the fifth-degree larceny charge and has pushed forward toward a trial in the case.
Fabricated Evidence?
As state police looked into the case, they found conflicting information about where the Casertanos got the iPod from, and whether it had the daughter’s name and a heart engraved on the back.
The returned iPod did not have an engraving on it. Casertano said his daughter’s name and a heart were engraved on her iPod.
Casertano provided the court with a receipt for the engraving.
But on May 28 2009, state police issued a search warrant upon Gach Jewelers in Monroe, where the receipt was from.
State police said the owner of Gach Jewelers eventually admitted he fabricated the receipt.
The Lawsuit
Casertano’s attorney, Norman Pattis, filed the federal lawsuit in November alleging corruption in the Shelton Police Department.
The suit claims that Casertano “has been made the target of a vindictive prosecution inspired by a motive to silence his efforts to expose corrupt practices in the Shelton Police Department.”
That alleged corruption takes the form of a fake accident report filed in 2006, the lawsuit claims.
The suit alleges that a captain at the Shelton Police Department falsified an accident report to help a friend get an insurance payment for the accident.
According to the suit, Casertano found out about the accident report in July 2008 and relayed the information to the FBI.
The suit claims that Chief Joel Hurliman initiated the state police investigation into the iPod payment as a way to keep Casertano from talking about the 2006 accident report.
According to the state police arrest warrant for Casertano, the investigation began in June 2008.
Casertano tried to view the accident report, but it was sealed at Hurliman’s request, Casertano claims in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit names state’s attorney Kerwin because he allegedly “conspired together” with Hurliman to force Casertano to resign from the Shelton Police Department.
Pattis was unable to be reached Wednesday for comment.
