Danley.
ANSONIA – Police have arrested a public works employee who they say stole more than $20,000 from an elderly resident over five years.
Harry Danley, 55, was arrested June 4 and charged with first-degree larceny, police announced in a press release.
Danley remains employed by the City of Ansonia, as of June 9. He ran for mayor as a petitioning candidate in 2023.
According to an arrest warrant, two women reached out to police in March. They said they feared their mother was the victim of a scam. The mother, an 85-year-old woman affected by mild dementia, had written about $25,000 in checks to Danley, they said.
One of the women, who was acting as her mother’s conservator, said she looked through her mother’s bank history after noticing that some bills hadn’t been paid. She asked her mother who Danley was after noticing the checks.
The mother identified Danley as her “lawn guy” who had been doing her yard work for years, the warrant states. The daughter allegedly found legitimate checks for yard work, but also eleven suspicious checks between 2020 and 2025, ranging in amounts from $1,000 to $5,000.
In total, police allegedly identified $25,870 in suspicious checks from the daughter’s research.
According to the warrant, the daughter said she found a handwritten note from Danley from January 2024 which described one $4,000 check as a “loan,” saying that he would pay it back the next month.
The daughter found a $2,600 deposit to her mother’s account from May 2024, the warrant states, but couldn’t identify who it was from.
After noticing the suspicious activity, one of the women allegedly told her mother to call Danley and demand her money back.
“She said her mother told (Danley) that her daughters were mad at her for lending him money, and he replied ‘So, your daughters know?’” the warrant states.
When an officer informed Danley he was under investigation, Danley spoke with the officer on the phone, according to the warrant. Danley allegedly described the checks as loans and said he had been cutting the woman’s lawn for the last thirty years.
Danley “said he spoke to an attorney that told him he hasn’t done anything wrong,” the warrant states.
During a later interview, Danley allegedly told police that he had a house under foreclosure and that the woman had agreed to loan him money to help out. He acknowledged that he owed her $20,000, according to the warrant, but said he had paid her back $2,100 of that amount. He said he’d pay her back the rest after selling the house, according to police.
However, a subsequent investigation found that a quit claim on his home had been filed in 2021, and that Danley was not the current owner, police said. Court documents showed that Danley owed about $181,000 to the company that foreclosed on his home, and that he had filed for bankruptcy in September 2024.
Police said Danley gave the woman “false promises and misrepresentations of being able to pay her back while being in such financial disrepair, plus telling her about selling his home that technically is not even his to sell.”
Police ultimately said Danley still owes the woman $23,770, after accounting for repayments they believe he made.
The Valley Indy left a voicemail for Danley requesting comment, but did not hear back.
Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini told The Valley Indy that Danley remains employed by the city pending the turnout of the case.
“Obviously, allegations and accusations have been set forth against him. Of course, you are innocent until proven guilty under the Constitution,” Marini said.
However, Marini said the city administration is “taking a look at our options” and that the Board of Aldermen would do the same.
Danley was released on a $35,000 bond. His next court date is June 18.
