On the eve of his trial on a larceny charge, Shelton Police officer Loren Casertano has filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming he was arrested because he tried to expose corruption at the Shelton Police Department.
Casertano, 47, of Shelton, filed a suit at U.S. District Court in New Haven Monday against Shelton Police Chief Joel Hurliman, Senior Assistant State’s Attorney John Kerwin III, and the City of Shelton.
Hurliman was unable to be reached for comment Tuesday. Messages were also left for Kerwin and Casertano’s attorney, Norman Pattis.
The city’s attorney, Tom Welch, said he had not heard about the suit yet and declined to comment on it.
The suit alleges a fake accident report was filed at the Shelton Police Department in 2006, and claims that when Casertano found out about the report, he was targeted by the chief and arrested in 2008 for fifth-degree larceny.
Casertano is slated to have a trial for the larceny charge at Superior Court in Derby starting Friday.
Extortion Via Stolen iPod?
State police arrested Casertano in July 2008 for allegedly extorting money from the family of his daughter’s school-mate.
The arrest stems from an incident in March 2008, when Casertano’s daughter had her iPod stolen from Shelton Intermediate School.
When Shelton police determined who stole the iPod, they arrested the juvenile and asked her to pay restitution to the Casertano family, according to an arrest warrant on file in Derby Superior Court.
But Casertano lied about how much the iPod was worth and received a payment for double what his family paid for it, the arrest warrant claims.
Casertano has pleaded not guilty and will fight the charges at the trial.
Casertano reported that the iPod cost about $349, but a subsequent police investigation determined the stolen iPod was a less expensive model, costing the Casertano family only about $133, according to the warrant.
A few weeks after the iPod was stolen, the girl’s family paid the Casertano family $370, which includes money for sales tax, the warrant says.
The State’s Attorney’s office requested that state police investigate the payment, and in June 2008, a state police detective from the Central District Major Crime Squad began interviewing people.
The Lawsuit
As the iPod trial approaches, Casertano’s attorney, Norman Pattis, filed the federal lawsuit 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 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.
Kerwin allegedly offered Casertano a plea deal if he resigned from the department, the suit claims.
Kerwin did not return calls for comment.
Civil Rights Violated?
Casertano claims his first, fifth, sixth, ninth and fourteenth amendments were violated through his arrest. His wife, Kim-Marie, is also listed as a plaintiff on the suit.
The suit says Casertano’s family suffers from emotional distress, fear and anxiety over the arrest. The suit seeks a ruling that the state can’t arrest Casertano’s wife and daughter for the iPod payment, and asked for unspecified punishment for the defendants.
The suit also asks that resignation from the Shelton Police Department be prohibited as a condition for any plea agreement in the larceny case.
