Soon after Shelton developer James Botti received approvals for his Crown Point development on Bridgeport Avenue, he paid for Mayor Mark A. Lauretti’s family to vacation at Disney World in Florida.
That’s according to Botti’s former accountant, Michael Plude, who testified on the third day of Botti’s federal corruption trial at U.S. District Court in New Haven Wednesday.
“It struck me as very strange that a developer would be paying for a vacation” for the mayor, Plude testified. “I said ‘Get the money back from the mayor immediately and go see your attorney.’”
Plude said he didn’t know the value of the vacation and he never saw the credit card statements to which it was allegedly charged.
U.S. Attorney Rahul Kale asked Plude if Botti ever indicated he was paid by Lauretti.
“Yes, he did,” Plude said. “He said ‘Mark Lauretti is no John Rowland because I got paid.’”
Botti is facing charges he allegedly bribed public officials in Shelton to get approvals for his developments.
Much of the testimony has focused on favors Botti allegedly provided to Lauretti. The mayor, who was re-elected by a wide margin in November, has not been charged with a crime.
So far, witnesses have detailed favors such as renovations done to Lauretti’s Shelton home, a Christmas party thrown at Lauretti’s restaurant and the alleged trip to Disney World.
In the indictment and their opening statements, government prosecutors also claimed that Botti gave Lauretti thousands of dollars in cash.
A message seeking comment was left with Lauretti Wednesday evening.
When asked if charges are coming, government attorneys only say the investigation is ongoing
In past interviews, he has repeatedly said he did nothing wrong — and invited the government to present their case, if they have one.
Testimony Heats Up
On the third day of the trial, government attorneys and Botti’s defense attorney William Dow III both had to drag out testimony from witnesses, who often answered questions by saying they couldn’t remember certain details.
In the morning, as Dow cross examined Inland Wetlands commissioner Randy Szkola, he had to repeatedly ask him how many times Szkola taped conversations he had with Botti.
Szkola testified Tuesday about wearing a wiretap for the FBI “numerous” times, and a tape of a Dec. 10, 2003 conversation was played for the jury.
(Transcript below. WARNING: The transcript includes profanity. Story continues after the document.)
Szkola said he could only recall one conversation with Botti he recorded — the Dec. 10 conversation played for the jury Tuesday afternoon.
But Dow tried to get Szkola to admit other taped conversations with Botti. Dow wrote a list of five specific dates, from October 2003 through April 2005, and asked Szkola if he remembered taping conversations with Botti.
“I can’t recall specific dates and the specific number,” Szkola replied after Dow asked several times about the dates.
“In the course of seven years you’re dealing with numerous people and numerous tape recordings. I can’t remember specifics,” Szkola said.
During a conversation not heard by the jury, Dow argued that he should be allowed to question Szkola about the other taped conversations to show that Szkola was “acting with a degree of vindictiveness” and the testimony would go to his credibility as a witness.
Judge Charles Haight, Jr. ruled that the other recordings could come up — but the names and parts of the conversations were off limits.
Later during his testimony, Szkola admitted he notified the FBI of alleged corruption in Shelton due to “maybe 10 percent vindictiveness and 90 percent because I perceived the town was corrupt.”
Szkola said he was upset about a development of a bank on the property adjacent to his father in law’s property. The chairman of the Planning and Zoning Commission at the time, Joe Pagliaro, was also the treasurer for the bank, Szkola testified.
“My father in law was upset that he voted while he was on the commission and was treasurer,” Szkola said.
Szkola said after his father-in-law filed a lawsuit for the approval, Pagliaro came up to Szkola at a meeting and said “For all the time and trouble you cost us, you’re lucky I didn’t have you killed.”
Pagliaro passed away in 2004.
The Carpenter
U.S. attorney Richard Schechter had his own go-around with government witness Thomas Pendagast, a friend of Botti’s who did the carpentry work at Lauretti’s home.
Much of Pendagast’s testimony actually came from the transcript of the January 2008 Grand Jury testimony, because Pendagast couldn’t recall many answers to questions Wednesday.
His testimony dealt with who paid him for work done on Lauretti’s home (Pendagast said it was Botti), and how many people attended a Christmas Party thrown by Botti at Lauretti’s restaurant (he said more than 100).
Pendagast said before he did the work on Lauretti’s home, he had been there to help Botti move a hot tub for the mayor.
Pendagast also said Botti had called him out of the blue before he testified for the Grand Jury and offered to hire him to do work on a custom house for Botti.
“I did all of Jimmy’s custom work for years,” Pendagast testified. “He wanted me to build his home.”
The trial continues Thursday morning.
