An Ansonia man pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to making bogus brutality complaints against Derby police.
Edward Minerly, 52, pleaded guilty to making a false statement to the FBI before Judge Alfred Covello at U.S. District Court in Hartford.
He now faces between four and 10 months in prison in accordance with a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Minerly is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 10.
According to federal prosecutors, the charges relate to allegations of brutality Minerly made against Derby police officers after they arrested him on a probation violation charge last year. He was living in Derby at the time.
Minerly’s probation officer had accused him of violating his probation by missing appointments and for getting arrested earlier in the year for allegedly impersonating a police officer.
Derby police took Minerly into custody May 18, 2013. He allegedly said he needed medical attention, then threatened and attempted to assault the EMTs sent to help him.
Brutality Allegations
About two weeks after his 2013 arrest, federal prosecutors say Minerly called the citizen complaint desk at the FBI’s New Haven office.
Minerly “alleged that, during the week of May 19, 2013, officers of the DPD had arrested him for a probation violation, and upon placing him in a holding cell, commenced taunting him, subjecting him to flashing lights and tipping him backwards out of his wheelchair. The defendant also alleged that DPD officers kicked him in the head, arms, and upper body.”
Minerly repeated those allegations during an interview with an FBI agent the next month.
He also told the Valley Indy the police were targeting him.
But on Tuesday he acknowledged in court that the allegations were false.
In a prepared statement, Police Chief Gerald Narowski on Tuesday thanked the Derby police officers Minerly accused of brutality “for the patience and professionalism that they maintained while allowing this investigation to take its course.”
“These officers epitomize the core values of the Derby Police Department, and it is very unfortunate that they had to live under the umbrella of these false accusations for months while waiting to be vindicated,” Narowski said. “The residents of the City of Derby should be proud of these officers, and confident that they acted and continue to act with fairness, integrity, respect, and excellence. I would also like to thank the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the thorough and impartial investigation that was painstakingly conducted resulting in Mr. Minerly’s guilty plea.”
Arson Case
Minerly is scheduled to appear at Superior Court in Milford Wednesday in connection with the March 2013 fire that gutted his Main Street apartment and sent him, his wife, and a Derby police officer to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
In August, Derby police charged Minerly with setting the fire.
He received a five-year offer in that case this year.
Minerly’s criminal record includes a 1992 conviction for first-degree sexual assault for which he served time in prison and is now required to register as a sex offender.
