A member of Ansonia’s Woodbridge Avenue Honor Roll and War Memorial Committee was driving home from church Sunday morning, when she noticed something out of place at the Ansonia War Memorial.
It was a large blue stuffed animal octopus placed at the War Memorial. The toy octopus had tears drawn on it in “graffiti” style.
Nothing was damaged at the site, but in the days after thieves stole two large bronze plaques from the memorial, neighbors and veterans are on heightened watch for anything out of the ordinary.
The stuffed animal was certainly out of the ordinary.
“We took it as maybe a little bit of a dig at us,” said Susan Giovacchino, who is a member of the committee. She said another member was the one to notice and report the stuffed animal incident to Ansonia police.
“We just wanted to report it, to keep track of what’s going on there. And hopefully they’ll stay away,” Giovacchino said. “It’s not really a good thing when you’re disrespecting veterans like that at a memorial.”
Ansonia police are investigating the stuffed animal incident, but it appears that it wasn’t criminal, according to Lt. Andrew Cota.
“Is it coincidental? Is somebody just doing that to get a rise out of the organization or the group that takes care of (the memorial)? I don’t know,” Cota said.
“But there’s likely nothing to the extent of a criminal event there,” Cota said.
Rewards, Reactions
People in the Valley continue to bristle at the thefts, which happened at the Ansonia War Memorial, the memorial at Witek Park in Derby and at a stone marker honoring Commodore Isaac Hull in Shelton.
On Friday, Derby resident Leo Moscato offered a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the thieves.
Monday, Derby city hall employee Patty Finn offered another $500 reward in honor of her brother, Philip John “P.J.” Finn.
“P.J.” Finn died of a heart attack last December at age 53. He was in the U.S. Navy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Patty Finn said.
“This would just infuriate him,” Finn said. “It’s just sickening.”
Lt. Sal Frosceno of the Derby Police Department said the department can’t sponsor it’s own reward, but he would look into whether Derby Police could work with private groups wanting to sponsor rewards themselves.
Finn said if she can’t offer the money as a reward, she plans to donate it toward replacing the plaques.
An Ansonia Navy reservist serving in Afghanistan has also called on Ansonia veterans to offer their own reward.
Frosceno and Cota both said there are no leads yet in the thefts.
The police departments are checking with local scrap yards to see if anything suspicious came in, and to put them on alert.
Meanwhile, Giovacchino said the Ansonia memorial committee plans to meet this week to talk about ways to protect the six remaining plaques, and raise money to replace the two missing plaques.
Click play on the video below to see reaction to the theft in Ansonia.
