An Ansonia woman who made headlines three years ago for recording a New Haven police officer using improper force has been charged with dealing drugs in the Valley.
Jennifer Gondola, 39, was arrested Dec. 15 by Derby police and charged with:
- Three counts of selling illegal drugs
- Three counts of possession of narcotics.
- Two counts of possession of narcotics near a school or daycare
- Possession of narcotics with intent to sell near a school or daycare
She also has similar drug charges pending in court Bridgeport.
Gondola is free on bonds totaling $65,000. Neither she nor her lawyer returned calls for comment. She’s pleaded not guilty to the Derby charges. The cases against her are early in the court process.
According to warrants on file in court, Derby police received info from a unnamed source about Gondola and her boyfriend running a “drug trafficking organization” based in Ansonia.
The person identified as her boyfriend has not been charged.
Derby police found out Ansonia officers were already investigating the pair and buying drugs from them to build a case.
Then, for several weeks, Derby police began buying narcotics from Gondola as well.
In August, according to the warrant, Gondola twice sold more than an ounce of cocaine near a daycare on Central Street in Ansonia.
Cops, in a “controlled buy” working with a source, purchased another ounce of cocaine from Gondola in October — this time in the company of an undercover officer from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
In October, the DEA got permission from a judge to put a tracking device on Gondola’s car. What that yielded isn’t known at this early point in the case.
Police also seized Gondola’s iPhone, which she allegedly used to set up deals.
Previously …
Gondola gained notoriety in 2012 after she recorded a New Haven police officer arresting a man outside a nightclub. An officer put his foot on a handcuffed man’s neck, then demanded Gondola’s phone after realizing he was being recorded.
Gondola wouldn’t give him the phone, so he had a female officer remove the phone from Gondola’s bra. Gondola was charged with interfering. The officer said he needed the phone’s video for evidence.
An internal police probe — prompted by a New Haven Independent story — determined the police officer used improper force. The officer in question was suspended for 15 days, and the questionable charge against Gondola was dismissed.
In 2014, Gondola found herself in the parking lot of the Banana Market on Ansonia’s Maple Street as police officer Joseph “Action” Jackson tried to subdue a man who police said was hiding a gun.
In comments on the Valley Indy’s Facebook page, Gondola contradicted the police account of the incident.
Two days later, the New Haven Register published a story in which Gondola said she was “terrified” immediately after the incident because Jackson had his gun drawn while asking to see her phone.
At the time Gondola told the Register she was contemplating filing a complaint against Jackson, but Ansonia Police Lt. Andrew Cota said no complaint was filed.
The man Jackson was trying to subdue later led police on a chase on Route 8 through Ansonia and Derby before crashing in Shelton. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
