David Nardone, in a file photo.
DERBY — A former Derby Public Schools employee has been charged with first-degree possession of child pornography, a felony.
David Nardone, the former head of facilities for the school system, was arrested May 14 by New Haven police. He had been employed by Derby schools until March, though on administrative leave since November.
Nardone’s lawyer, Matthew D. Popilowski of Lynch, Traub, Keefe & Errante, said the circumstances that led to Nardone’s arrest are suspicious and deserve further review.
His case has appeared on the docket in New Haven Superior Court four times but he has yet to enter a plea. Nardone is next due in court July 29.
The Accusations
According to an arrest warrant, Nardone’s wife arrived at New Haven police headquarters Nov. 20, 2018 with her husband’s iPad and a desktop computer. She told police she had searched the computer’s download history and found “items of child pornography.”
She transferred some of the images to a portable device and gave them to police, along with the hardware. In the arrest warrant application, the investigating officer wrote that the images appeared to be of pre-pubescent males and females being spanked, including a nude shot of what appeared to be a pre-pubescent female.
Police alleged they found 46 images “of pre-pubescent children engaging in sexual activity or sexually provocative poses.”
Several images were also allegedly found on an iPad that Nardone was issued by Derby Public Schools. Nardone was put on administrative leave the day his wife made the report in November 2018. His last official date of employment with the school district was March 5.
The warrant states that Nardone talked to police in November and that the interview was recorded. Police allege that Nardone said he looked up videos featuring children being spanked but would not confirm nor deny whether there were images of child pornography on the computer.
“D. Nardone said if there is child pornography on the desktop, his wife may have put it there because they are going through marital problems,” the warrant states.
The two are in the process of getting divorced.
He is currently out on bond.
In Defense
Popilowski, Nardone’s defense attorney, pointed out his client has yet to have his day in court. It’s still early in the court process, and Nardone’s team will need to review much more than a 4‑page arrest warrant.
Popilowski said the warrant states the computer in question belonged to Nardone’s wife, who decided to search download history after noticing her keyboard wasn’t positioned a certain way.
“The circumstances of his wife discovering this are certainly suspicious,” Popilowski said. “It’s not his computer.”
In addition, Popilowski said child pornography cases involving computers are often triggered by Internet Service Providers or file-sharing programs that alert law enforcement. The Nardone case is different.
“Because her keyboard is out of place, she decides to look up a search history? She actually put the images on a flash drive herself. I’ve never had a case where that’s happened,” Popilowski said. “The circumstances are unusual.”
Popilowski said there’s still much to explore to figure out how the images got onto the computer. In addition, the images themselves should be reviewed by a third-party expert.
“There’s a lot of work we have to do, and a lot of discovery we still have to get from the state before we can attempt to resolve this matter in court.”
Nardone had a school district iPad to remotely monitor the district’s HVAC system.
As the head of facilities, Nardone was responsible for supervising all custodians, maintaining all school buildings, and creating an annual budget for his department.
