A man who said he witnessed a Derby official assault another Derby official has been charged with lying to police.
Tremain Grandy, 39, of Derby, was charged Feb. 25 with making a false statement, a misdemeanor.
He has applied for accelerated rehabilitation, a form of probation that allows defendants to have their criminal records wiped clean if they stay out of trouble for a set period of time.
Grandy is scheduled to appear in Superior Court April 6.
Grandy’s arrest originates from statements he gave Derby police in October regarding an alleged altercation that took place in the Derby parking garage between Leo Moscato, Jr. and John Dorosh.
Moscato is the director of the Parking Authority, a paid position. Dorosh at the time was chairman of the Parking Authority, where members are appointed. Dorosh is also a Derby police officer.
Moscato claims that during an argument Oct. 13 Dorosh slammed his head into a concrete wall inside the garage. Dorosh has repeatedly denied the accusation.
Moscato has a federal civil rights lawsuit pending against Dorosh.
The Warrant
According to the arrest warrant application used to charge Grandy, Grandy came to the Derby Police Department Oct. 14 and handed a police dispatcher a hand-written letter saying he had witnessed Moscato being assaulted by an “unknown gentleman.”
The warrant application is posted at the end of this article.
Police asked Grandy to come to the police station to make a formal statement, which he did an hour after submitting the letter, the warrant application states.
Derby Deputy Police Chief Scott R. Todd handled the accusation since it involved a Derby police officer, according to the warrant application.
Police said Grandy was in the garage Oct. 13 and heard an argument taking place one level above him in the garage. He told police he saw a man with his hand on Moscato’s face as Moscato tried to defend himself. Grandy allegedly told police he thought the men were joking, so he left — only to return about 10 minutes later to see a police officer on the scene.
The next morning Grandy allegedly spoke to Moscato, who asked him to submit a letter to Derby police.
However, “there were obvious inconsistencies between Moscator’s version of events … and the version of events that Grandy claimed to have seen,” according to Deputy Chief Todd.
As part of their investigation into the alleged assault, Derby police obtained a warrant to look at footage from video cameras inside the municipal parking garage.
“A search of the video showed that Tremain Grandy entered the parking garage at 2016 (8:16 p.m.) on (Oct. 13). This is at least eight minutes after the alleged incident occurred,” Todd wrote. “The incident, according to Moscato, allegedly occurred on the basement level of a stairwell. Grandy never went anywhere near that stairwell while he was in the garage.”
“It was obvious from reviewing the video that Grandy could not have seen any altercation between Moscato and Dorosh,” Todd concluded.
Revised Story
On Oct. 18, police asked Grandy to come to the police department for another interview.
During that interview, police confronted him with the video information.
“Grandy initially stuck with his story, but after a few minutes of questioning he had admitted that he fabricated the story,” Todd writes in the arrest warrant application.
The Derby man then gave a new statement, according to police, admitting that he lied in his first statement.
In the new version, Grandy said he never saw Moscato’s alleged assault, but he was in the garage the night of the incident and heard Moscato talking about it.
Why?
He later heard from a third-party that Moscato had been assaulted. The third-party, identified in the warrant application as Shaun Burns, allegedly told Moscato that Grandy saw the assault.
Moscato then asked Grandy to submit a statement to police to support his claim.
“Grandy said that he ‘just wanted to shut him up,’” the warrant application states, “so he agreed to write a statement for him. He made everything up based on what Moscato had told him.”
“He said that he felt sorry for Moscato and thought he was doing him a favor by writing the statement,” Todd wrote.
“Grandy adamantly denied being offered anything in exchange for fabricating his story,” Todd concludes.
The Back Story
Prior to October, Moscato and Dorosh had been feuding for some time, often making for tense parking authority meetings.
Dorosh told the Valley Indy last year that Moscato became paranoid after being arrested in an Internet sex sting in Naugatuck, where police said he arranged a meeting with an undercover police officer posing online as a Craiglist prostitute.
Initially charged with attempting to patronize a prostitute, Moscato eventually pleaded guilty to breach of peace.
Dorosh said he began questioning whether Moscato was fulfilling his day-to-day duties at the parking authority. Dorosh said he also questioned cell phone bills Moscato submitted for reimbursement, saying the Parking Authority was not properly managing the expense.
Moscato accused Dorosh of abusing his position as parking authority chairman by screaming at enforcement officers and refusing to pay parking meters outside his properties.
A message seeking comment was left with Grandy Wednesday morning.
An e‑mail seeking comment was sent to Moscato Wednesday morning.
James Tallberg, the attorney representing Dorosh in the federal case, declined comment.
A call for comment was left Wednesday morning with John R. Williams, who represents Moscato in the federal case.
The Valley Independent Sentinel also asked Derby police Wednesday for an update on the status of their investigation into the allegations Moscato made against Dorosh.
The arrest warrant application for Grandy appears below:
