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Showing posts with label Chief of Police David Ridberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chief of Police David Ridberg. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2009

10/12/09 Greenwich Taxpayers To Pay Through The Nose To As The Town Rewards David Ridberg With $181,000 Plus Benefits For Failure After Failure

On the heels of a state Supreme Court decision that put to rest a lawsuit that had halted police department promotions for years, the police chief announced Monday that he has signed on to lead the department for another two years.

The news comes just weeks before the department's No. 2 command official, Michael Pacewitz is set to officially retire under the conditions of a separation agreement worked out with the town last year.

Both agreements aim to turn the tide within the department, which has been plagued with litigation and internal conflict. However, the agreements have also caused rumblings within the rank and file over the fairness of the closed-door deals.

Greenwich Chief David Ridberg will be here until November 2011.

Ridberg who is laughing all the way to the bank has not revealed his plans beyond that date.

The agreement, that is going to make Greenwich taxpayers pay through the nose, stipulates that Ridberg be paid an annual $36,000 stipend issued monthly on top of his $145,000 base salary through November 2011.

The stipend puts Ridberg at the top end of the salary range for his position, which is capped at $186,000.

First Selectman Peter Tesei said the decision to compensate Ridberg was the only viable option he saw to help the department transition into a new era following several tenuous years caused by a police lieutenant's lawsuit that froze promotions to the top four command staff positions.

Since December 2008, all four positions have been vacant.

The cause of the injunction, a lawsuit filed by Lt. Gary Honulik in 2004 over a controversial promotion to captain.

The town also entered into an agreement with Captain Michael Pacewicz, the department's second-in-command, in December 2008 stipulating that the department veteran would step down at the end of 2008, but remain on active payroll until Nov. 1, 2009, using accrued vacation and sick time in addition to 25 weeks of severance pay.

Pacewicz was promoted to captain over Honulik in 2003, a move that led to the lawsuit.

The separation agreement also stipulates that Pacewicz will receive a lump sum of $17,800 in additional compensation for his years of service.

Pacewicz's final salary was $117,870. He also received a 10 percent bump in his pension enabling him to reach the maximum pension percentage a police officer can receive.

First Selectman Peter Tesei said he agreed that removing Pacewicz helped ease tensions in the department.

Sgt. James Bonney, president of the Silver Shield Association police union, has repeatedly declined to comment on Pacewicz's retirement package.

Many front line police officers have voiced concerns about the agreements awarding additional compensation while the rank and file has been forced to pick up much of the slack caused by the injunction.

The department has delegated many tasks typically completed by captains and deputy chiefs to lieutenants as a result of the injunction.

Mr. Tesei is the acting police commissioner of Greenwich.

Tesei said the proposal is pending approval by the Board of Estimate and Taxation, but hopes the promotional process could be complete within 6 months.

Tesei said they were hopeful the department would be able to move forward and make up for lost time.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

1/15/09 Public Payroll: Are You Rich Like These Educrats And Bureaucrats? $92000.00 Puts Them in Top 10% Of The Nation

STAYING LATE MEANS PAY'S GREAT !!!!

GREENWICH'S OT QUEENS AND KINGS

Deputy Superintendent Of Schools Kathleen Greider Was The Second Highest Paid Town Greenwich Employee At $196,471. Her Boss, Betty Sternberg, Was The Town's Highest Paid Employee.

First Selectman Peter Tesei, paid $110,000 annually, did not even make the top 100 list highest paid town employees

ALL OF THE TOWN'S TOP 100 EMPLOYEES EARNED SIX FIGURES


School boss tops list of 100 highest wage earners in 2008


By PATRICIA McCORMACK


For the second year in a row, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Betty Sternberg is the queen bee on the Town's paycheck honeycomb.

At $287,288, the superintendent of schools made more in 2008 than U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings - $192,300....

....Greenwich's widely awaited annual list of 100 top wage earners was distributed Tuesday by Human Resources Director Maureen Kast. At $143,241, Kast is No. 24.

A former head of human resources for the New York City Police Department, Kast noted that while top educators dominate the 2008 Greenwich list as they did in 2007, there is a strong presence from the Greenwich Police Department. In an interview she attributed this to cops putting in much overtime ....

....Accident Car Patrolman Joseph Rondini, at $156,760, is 10th on the earnings list; Lt. Mark Kordick, at $148,307, is 18th on the list, while Police Chief David Ridberg, at $145,243, checks in at No. 21.....

.....Mario Gonzalez, who resigned as head of Greenwich Library at the end of the year, No. 3 at $180,880; and William O. Kowalewski, executive director of The Nathaniel Witherell, No. 4, at $169,283.

Kowalewski runs the Town-owned 202-bed skilled nursing home......

....Spots 99 and 100 on the list are pinned down, respectively, by police Lt. James Heavey, at $118,503, and North Street School Assistant Principal Karen Vitti at $117,953.

First Selectman Peter Tesei, paid $110,000 annually, did not make the top 100 list.....

.....For the complete list of the Town of Greenwich's top 100 wager earners and their annual salaries, please see our print edition.

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Please send your comments to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

04/30/08 - Recipients risk having their names, which appear in a police affidavit, become public if the case fails to go forward (Updated)


Who Is The Mystery Woman That Greenwich Park's Director Joseph Siciliano Ignored?

Quote:


"We definitely have enough for an arrest warrant," Greenwich Police Cheif David Ridberg said. "The prosecutors feel that we don't have enough for a conviction."


Headline:

Ridberg would not identify the suspect or discuss that person's connection to the whistle-blower, other than to say that the key witness was a woman who had a personal relationship with the counterfeiter.


Story:


Police look for fake beach card witnesses


Police are trying to bolster their criminal case against an alleged counterfeiter who gave friends fake beach cards, one that relies heavily on a single whistle-blower with ties to the suspect, Chief David Ridberg said yesterday....

..."The woman who dropped off the stuff, one can infer she has something to gain from the other person going down," Ridberg said. "So, therefore, we have to overcome the stigma that the suspect is being setup."...

...
A message seeking comment from Assistant State's Attorney Steve Weiss was left yesterday at his Stamford office.

First Selectman Peter Tesei said the alleged forgery of town documents should not be taken lightly.

"That's why I felt from the very beginning it should be handled by police," Tesei said. "Obviously, the objective is to present as strong a case as possible that will result in a conviction. There are some nuances about it that certainly make it more complex than it should be."....

...Greenwich Time received a binder with materials similar to those described by town officials. It contained photocopies of beach cards from the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the names of several individuals and their supposed addresses, which were all in Old Greenwich.

None of the individuals named were listed in telephone directories at the addresses printed on the cards, however. One of the individuals was listed as a Stamford resident.

Photocopies of beach parking stickers from the 2006 and 2004 seasons also were included, as well as several marina permits from 2006.


Please see:

04/28/08 - Do you really think it was Greenwich Senior Citizens who were involved in counterfeiting beach passes?


Also:


02/19/08 - Coverup? - Why Isn't This Felony Being Investigated By The Police Department?


02/20/08 - Is The Coverup Comming To An End? - Police Commisioner Tesei Lights A Fire Under Police Chief Ridberg's Rear End.


02/21/08 - Stop The Coverup - Since When Is Joesph Siciliano A Criminal Investigator?


03/18/08 - First Selectman Peter Tesei said, "Every effort should be made to identify the culprit and prosecute the person."


04/21/08 - You Can Blame This Screw Up On High Paid Parks Department Head Joesph "I Thought I Could Handle A Police Investigation" Sicilano


04/22/08 - See The Channel 2 Video - Fakes Allowing Many Access To Exclusive Waterfront


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Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

Monday, April 21, 2008

04/21/08 - You Can Blame This Screw Up On High Paid Parks Department Head Joesph "I Thought I Could Handle A Police Investigation" Sicilano


Recipients of fake Greenwich beach cards dodge questioning
Boston Globe, United States

GREENWICH, Conn.—Lack of cooperation from potential witnesses is complicating an investigation into who's responsible for counterfeiting Greenwich's highly coveted beach access passes, police say.

Beach Pass Probe Resisted

Hartford Courant

Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg says the witnesses could help corroborate details provided by an anonymous tipster, who sent copies of the fake passes and other information to police in February....

A police investigation into an alleged counterfeiting operation involving beach cards has been stonewalled by recipients of the highly-coveted passes who refuse to be questioned, according to Chief David Ridberg.

"That's one avenue we would like to nail down," Ridberg said. "We're trying to confirm that there were passes handed out to people."

Right now, much of what investigators have to go on in the case is a binder received in February from an anonymous tipster containing copies of the fake beach cards, parking stickers and marina permits. It also identified the person allegedly running the operation, who police have said is a suspect and would not identify...

...Greenwich Time received a binder with materials similar to those described by town officials. It contained photocopies of beach cards from the 2005 and 2006 seasons with the names of several individuals and their supposed addresses, which were all in Old Greenwich.

None of the individuals named were listed in telephone directories at the addresses printed on the cards, however. One of the individuals was listed as a Stamford resident.

Photocopies of beach parking stickers from the 2006 and 2004 seasons also were included, as well as several marina permits from 2006.

...Several alleged recipients of the counterfeit passes refuse to be questioned by officers, Ridberg said...

...The tipster also identified the person allegedly running the copycat operation, but that individual's attorney has told police the man will not be interviewed voluntarily....


Police facestonewallon beachcard fakes
Stamford Advocate, CT

...
The alleged suspect in the case also has declined, through his attorney, to be interviewed by police, police have said.

"The investigation is continuing and we're endeavoring to solidify the case for prosecutors," Ridberg said. "We're trying to independently corroborate the information provided that was the genesis of the investigation."

First Selectman Peter Tesei, who pushed for the criminal investigation in the case, said he was disappointed in the lack of cooperation.

"All I can say is let their conscience be their guide," Tesei said. We're not punishing those people per se. At least show some remorse and help us bring some accountability to the person who did it. As I said, it's a criminal activity."...

Recipients of fake Greenwich beach cards dodge questioning
Newsday, NY

...In Greenwich, where beach access questions have gone as high as the state Supreme Court, having one of the highly coveted cards and parking passes can save hundreds of dollars yearly....

...Beach access in Greenwich has been a thorny issue, landing the town in court. The town also has been forced to add holograms, bar codes and other anti-counterfeiting security measures to its highly coveted passes.

In 2001, the state Supreme Court struck down the town's residents-only beach policy.

Please see:

02/18/08 - The Parks Department Has Another Beach Pass Scandal. Will The Police Be Called? Will the person reponsible be punished?


02/19/08 - Coverup? - Why Isn't This Felony Being Investigated By The Police Department?


02/20/08 - Is The Coverup Comming To An End? - Police Commisioner Tesei Lights A Fire Under Police Chief Ridberg's Rear End.


02/21/08 - Stop The Coverup - Since When Is Joesph Siciliano A Criminal Investigator?


03/18/08 - First Selectman Peter Tesei said, "Every effort should be made to identify the culprit and prosecute the person."



Why wont the Town Tell The Single Family Home Owners Of Greenwich Who The Alleged Old Greenwich Counterfeiter Is?

Once The Investigation That Joseph Siciliano screwed up is completed then the binder naming the suspect should be a public document that can be obtained through the Freedom Of Information process.

Five fake dollar bills will get you ten that when the single family home owners of Greenwich learn who the "alleged" counterfeiter is, then they will will know why
Joseph Siciliano drug his feet and tried to sweep this matter under the Greenwich Park Department rug.

If a second binder had not been sent to the
Greenwich Time Newspaper, then the taxpayers of Greenwich would have never heard about the felony. counterfeiter.

Will Joseph Siciliano be reprimanded for not immediately informing the Greenwich Police Department That A Felony Crime Had Been Reported To Him?

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Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

03/25/08 - Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg Gets Caught Mis-leading To The Press In The Andrew Kissel Murder



There were Inconsistancies In Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg's Statements early on....


First Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg Said The Silly-Suicide-For-Hire Theroy Was Not Considered.



Two arrested in Kissel slaying


Martin B. Cassidy - Greenwich Time

March 23, 2008

Ridberg yesterday emphasize that police never considered a suicide-for-hire theory
.


"That was something that was put out by other parties in the case," Ridberg said.

Then Dozens Of Press Clippings Were Pulled Out Of Reporter's Files Showing That The Police Did Consider The Silly-Suicide-For-Hire Theory.

Judge holds purse strings in Kissel case

Martin B. Cassidy - Greenwich Time

Aug 22, 2006

Lindy Urso, the attorney for [Andrew M. Kissel]'s driver, Carlos Trujillo, said that police continue to investigate his client in connection with the murder. Police have questioned Trujillo based on a theory that Kissel might have plotted his own murder so his wife and children would receive the hefty life insurance policy.

Kissel driver: I should've kept quiet

Martin B. Cassidy - Greenwich Time

Sep 7, 2006

Police viewed his recent trip to Colombia and an arrangement in which he sold jewelry on behalf of Kissel as suspicious, supporting a theory that [Carlos Trujillo] had a role in a Kissel scheme to have himself killed so his family could collect on an enormous life insurance policy, Trujillo said.

Now Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg Admits That The Police Department Did Consider The Silly-Suicide-For-Hire Theroy


Driver arrested, pleads not guilty to Kissel murder

Greenwich Post, CT


March 24, 2008


...Chief Ridberg neither dismissed nor accepted that possibility, but confirmed the police investigated that view. He said the department’s research showed there had been only two cases nationwide where such a scenario had happened and called it “an extremely rare form of homicide.”

We never said that we believed that it was [suicide for hire] and we never said that we didn’t believe,” Chief Ridberg said..... If it ends up being the case, that’s fine. If it ends up not being the case, that’s fine too. We’re more into discerning the facts of the case.”
This so-called murder case is going to have a lot of twists and turns. because...

It looks like this so-called murder case and Greenwich Police Cheif David "Flip Flop" Ridberg are appearently not aready for prime time.

"From the git go, I mean, he's, ah, he was, ah, close to Andrew Kissel, ah, you know, he ah, the information we had....", Police Chief David Ridberg stammered at a press conference that he had called.

God, I hope this guy doesn't keep embarrassing the Town of Greenwich on cable television.

Prosecutors May End Up With Egg On There Face And National Cable TV Channels Will Be There To Catch Every Single Moment.

Was pressure used to get false statements?

What was the motive?

Where is the weapon?

Can the police follow the money?

Did the 21 year old cousin have some legal troubles that caused him to tell police what they wanted to hear.

This 21 year old cousin had better be a damn good witness, with no ulterior motives or skeletons in his closet.

The local media is somewhat intimidated by Ridberg and the Greenwich Police Department, but the national media doesn't give a tinkers damn about them.

Soon The National Media Will Start Talking About The Screwed Up Martha Moxley Murder Case and Greenwich's other unsolved murder of poor little 13 year old Matthew Margolies.

Matthew's Story:

The narrow winding streets of the Pemberwick section of Greenwich (Connecticut) are a far cry from the leafy back roads, expansive lawns, and stately multi-floored homes that have come to characterize this well-to-do community. The neighborhood would never be mistaken for the more moneyed sections of town such as Round Hill Road, Rock Ridge, or Belle Haven.

The residents of Pemberwick fondly refer to it as "The Valley". In the Valley the homes are modest, rarely exceeding one story. The yards are small but neat, and vinyl siding seems to be the exterior of choice here. It is a community that seems to be proud of the fact that it is a pocket of working class people set amidst the conspicuously wealthy.

The Byram River is the defining geographic identity of Pemberwick. It is not much of a river, a meandering stream would be a more apt description. Until it empties into the Long Island Sound, where it widens to river-like proportions and divides Connecticut and New York in the process, it is a shallow winding ribbon of water that few outsiders in the hunt of sport or adventure bother with. Matthew Margolies, age 13, born and raised in Pemberwick, was an avid fisherman that loved this un-remarkable river nonetheless. Matthew was a regular angler on the muddy waters that coursed through peoples backyards in Pemberwick and the nearby Glenville section of town.

That last Friday of the month was a day off for Maryann Margolies, having just completed a double shift at the hospital the day before. Her kids had stayed over at her mothers house the previous evening. She drove over early on Friday morning. Matthew and his older sister Stacey were still asleep. She looked in on Matthew and remembers how he had looked so peaceful. Maryann elected not to awaken her youngest just to accompany her on her errands. She left a note that she would call later.

Arising that morning, the soon to be 8th grader at Western Junior High grabbed one of his favorite fishing rods and set out like so many other times before to idle away the waning days of Summer casting for trout in the suburban waterway.

Back in 1984 residents of the Valley would be hard pressed to come up with anyone who was more intimate with the secrets of the Byram River than the young Margolies boy. He knew every twist and turn, and more importantly every prime fishing hole. A son of a single mother, a nurse who drew long hours at a skilled nursing facility in Stamford, Matthew would spend his time exploring the modest wonders of the Byram River with his beloved grandfather George Miazga. But on the eve of the holiday weekend Matthew was no longer able to share his appreciation of the river with his maternal grandfather. He had died just two weeks before, succumbing to a long and painful illness that the young boy had been witness to.

As of late, when working, his mother would often entrust her sons well being to her recently widowed mother. Still Maryann Margolies put a lot of trust in her son. He was a good kid - bright, responsible, polite, and loving. Matthew always asked permission before making any plans to fish or a play date with some neighborhood friend. His mother would say later that today you might call Matthew a "latchkey child" but back in 1984 no one would think twice about letting their child play unsupervised. After all, this was Greenwich, Connecticut and not the mean streets of an inner city. Kids were supposed to be safe here.

At around 5PM Maryann Margolies drove over to her mothers house to pick up her son to bring him home for dinner. Mrs. Miazga had taken Stacey to an appointment. Matthew was not there and that worried her. She waited until her mother and daughter returned to see if Matthew had accompanied them. He had not. At around 7PM, with no word or sign of Matthew, Maryann knew that something was drastically wrong. She called the police.

A Greenwich youth division officer along with a few neighbors of the Margolies and Miazgas fanned out across the area of Byram River. Concerned phone calls were made to the homes of Matthew's friends inquiring if they knew his whereabouts. No one had seen or heard from the boy.

On Saturday the search intensified. More police were assigned to the dragnet and the volunteer firemen pitched in. The boys father, who was now living in the Dallas area, was called. He had not been contacted by his son. On Sunday the FBI was notified of his disappearance and Maryann Margolies made an emotional appeal in the local newspaper, The Greenwich Time, for help in finding her son. Police divers began to make underwater forays in the murky waters for what they hoped they would never find - young Matthew's body.

On Monday, September 2nd Maryann and her boyfriend Jim (later to become her husband) decided to look around for themselves in the area near Pemberwick Road just above the Glenville Civic Center around Hawthorne Street. She remembered just days before that her son had asked her about what was up there. His interest in the area had mystified her. She asked him why he was curious about the terrain that rose sharply to a secluded neighborhood of Glenville. He had replied that he was just curious. She asked him if anyone had approached him about going up there. Matthew said no. If he wanted to see it, Maryann told him, she would happily take him there otherwise he was not to go up there. He shrugged it off and the subject was dropped. But Maryann was troubled by Matthew's interest in the remote spot. Now, days later she was there looking for some sign of her son.

Near the dead end of Hawthorne Street in a rock strewn dump area frequented by neighborhood kids and adjacent to the wooded area above Pemberwick Road Maryann and Jim detected a foul, overpowering odor. They did not investigate any further. She notified the police of the suspicious smell upon returning home figuring the residents of the neighborhood must have complained about it as well. The police said the odor was probably just discarded fish offal from anglers on the nearby river. But being an accomplished fisherman herself Maryann remembers the stench was certainly no gutted fish, nor was it a skunk. The police did not search the area for two more days.

Fred Lambert had just returned from a trip to Virginia when he had heard of the search for the lost boy. A life long resident of Greenwich and a volunteer fire policeman who had experience in searches he took it upon himself to look up in the area that was across the street from where he worked. The Mill, his place of employment, was an old felt producing mill that had been converted into a collection of chic shops, offices, and a restaurant and was less than a mile up the road from where Matthew was last seen. The wooded hills that he climbed were just below Hawthorne and Greenway Streets. Lambert walked through the deserted dump area then followed the densely forested path. Almost immediately he saw a single sneaker, a black and white checkered one. He knew from reports the missing boy was described as wearing just such footwear when he was last seen. Lambert immediately ran down the hill and marked the spot with a bicycle tire he had found along the trail and hung it on a telephone pole on Pemberwick Road, then he dashed off to call the police.

At 4PM, September 5th , five days after the initial report of the missing boy two youth division officers appeared on the scene and Lambert took them up to the area where he had discovered the sneaker. The two officers commenced searching the steep rocky and wooded terrain. Lambert remembers stepping back and leaning against a tree when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Looking closer he saw that it was a small foot poking up through the leaves. Lambert remembers his heart sank and a wave of nausea swept over him. He managed to call out in a shaken voice to the two officers, "Guys, he's over here." The 38-year old father of a daughter Matthew's age trotted down the hill leaving the two officers with the grim task of uncovering the diminutive body that laid in the makeshift grave.

atthew Margolies had been dead for some time. There were multiple stab wounds on his torso. An autopsy performed by Dr. H. Wayne Carver, the states deputy medical examiner, determined he had died of the stab wounds and traumatic asphyxiation. Traumatic asphyxiation occurs when a sudden or severe compression of the chest or upper abdomen results in death by preventing a person from breathing. It was to become a telltale clue that still has not been resolved some 15 years later.

The autopsy -according to the Greenwich Police - also determined that there were no signs that the boy had been sexually molested. His athletic shorts, along with his sneakers, were found near his body but he still had his underpants on. Many have speculated that this indicates the body may have been dragged down or up the wooded embankment but the police have insisted the boy was killed where he was found. A 10-inch kitchen boning knife was also found near the body several days later. Other than declaring it the weapon used to inflict the wounds on Matthew Margolies, the Greenwich Police Department (GPD) claims to know nothing more about it having spent hundreds of hours trying to track it down. Matthew's fishing rod was no where to be found.

The GPD rarely handled this type of a crime. It had been nine years since they investigated the last homicide - the notorious Martha Moxley murder. The results would be the same. No arrests, no indictments, no convictions.

As in the Moxley case there was some crucial mistakes made by the GPD. In 1986 Police Chief Thomas Keegan over the protests of his detective division commissioned outside consultant Vernon J. Geberth, a former lieutenant commander in the New York City Police Department, to determine how the GPD handled the Margolies homicide investigation. The report was kept secret until a Freedom of Information suit brought by The Greenwich Time forced the town to release it in 1992. There were significant sections that had been blacked out on the order of Superior Court Judge Harold Dean who allowed the police to withhold that information since the GPD claimed making it public would "harm the Margolies investigation".

It was revealed, however, that there was a "clear lack of effective coordination in the early stages of the investigation". No detective had been assigned to check into the missing person report, even though it was a small boy. That oversight may have cost the department a chance of cracking the case early. Geberth added that by the time the body was found "the investigative arm of the Greenwich Police Department had, in effect, lost six days of crucial informational interviews and neighborhood canvasses, which would later prove to be significant to the homicide investigation.

This fact is even harder to reconcile after present Police Chief Peter Robbins admitted in a recent interview with this reporter that the GPD suspected "foul play" 24 to 48 hours after the initial missing persons report. Still, no detective was assigned to the case early on. It also has been learned that after the body was found only one detective assigned to the case actually viewed the crime scene.

Geberth also criticized then Captain William Andersen, head of the investigation, for not delegating more authority to subordinates. The department was praised, nonetheless, for conducting a "diligent, professional investigation." But recently discovered facts concerning the case would seem to challenge that ultimate pat on the back for a job well done.

One week after finding Matthew Margolies' body the GPD revealed that they had located the missing fishing pole. By all reports Matthew was last seen in possession of that rod the day he disappeared and was presumably killed. In a prepared statement the GPD Chief Keegan (the lead detective in the Moxley case back in 1975) said that the rod "had been sold by Matthew to a friend." The police would not identify the "friend" who had bought the rod. In the interview with Chief Robbins (who was a lieutenant detective working on the Margolies case in ’84) the finding of the rod had no significance and they were satisfied that the holder of the rod was not a material witness or a suspect in the homicide case.

Maryann Margolies, also in a recent interview with this reporter, would not comment about the fishing rod indicating that she had received either police or legal advice concerning the matter. However, she did say that Matthew would never have willingly parted with that fishing rod since it was gift from his grandfather and that the finding of the rod in the possession of another was "significant". If indeed Matthew was carrying that rod at 5PM on August 31st, 1984 the person who was later found in possession of it was the last person to see him alive.

It has been learned that the investigation has centered on three to five individuals who fit the profile provided by the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia. In the interview Chief Robbins said that his department executed three search warrants on the basis of the profile, the first ever such search warrant granted by a Connecticut judge. Robbins said no new evidence was turned up due, no doubt, to the elapsed time since the commission of the crime. Robbins would not add for the record to the description of the suspect described only as a "white male" - a description that fits nearly half of all the residents of Pemberwick and Glenville.

The chief of the 162 man force said in the interview that, "We know what happened at the crime scene." He clarified the "we" as being the perpetrator and the police investigators, and that releasing any more information on what has been learned by forensics, the psychological profile, the DNA results, and interviews would compromise their case. Yet, in the Greenwich Police chiefs own words the Margolies homicide is a "cold case".

Will the Matthew Margolies homicide ever be solved? There are indications, profoundly mysterious and troubling, that justice and some kind of closure is attainable.

One of the suspects, it has been learned, is an especially logical choice for being the perpetrator of this heinous crime. The suspect was a known bully with a history of trouble making. Matthew's body was found directly behind the suspects house, practically in his backyard. A former neighbor (who wishes to remain anonymous) claims the suspect threatened his own son using a knife similar to the one that killed Matthew Margolies just weeks before the murder. The suspect and a handful of friends often terrorized the neighborhood. Had Matthew crossed paths with these toughs in the woods that his mother had forbidden him to explore? Was this slight, gangly boy bullied? Had they demanded his fishing rod and did he resist? Traumatic asphyxiation, the telltale clue. Was Matthew thrown to the ground and pounced upon, his shorts pulled off to humiliate him, his chest so compressed that he could not breathe? Did his assailant(s) panic? Was the knife produced for the coup de grace or for some ritualistic bonding?

A second teenage suspect, also with a criminal history and a friend of the first suspect, was a resident of a Port Chester neighborhood not far from Matthew's house. Prior to the finding of the body a Port Chester policeman contacted the detective division of the Port Chester Police Department (PCPD) inquiring about a homicide in Greenwich which they were unaware of at that time. When the body did turn up the detectives were naturally suspicious especially since the policeman's son had a criminal record and was known to frequent the Byram River to fish. One PCPD detective who was interviewed said, "We always knew this kid was heading to bigger and more serious things."

The detective approached the teenager unofficially and learned from him that he had known Matthew Margolies and had often fished with him. The suspect and the father agreed to a meeting with a Greenwich detective but the boy never showed up. Eventually the boy and his father agreed that he would take a polygraph. On the day the lie detecting test was to be administered the suspect was no where to be found and the father informed the detectives that they would no longer cooperate. According to the now retired PCPD detective the suspect later joined the military, was dismissed because of a criminal offense and is now doing time in a state penitentiary. The retired detective said the GPD never followed up on the investigation of the suspect after his refusal of the polygraph.

Matthew Margolies was last seen alive in the late afternoon of August 31st almost a mile from where his body was found. No one reported seeing him walk along Pemberwick Road on any of the side streets on that bright sunny Summer afternoon. Perhaps he was not seen along those roads because he never traversed them by foot. Maryann Margolies says on the day of her sons disappearance suspicious fresh tire marks were found in front of her mothers house on Morgan Avenue which is just a short distance from the intersection of Comly Avenue and Pemberwick Road. A kid just showing off and laying some rubber, or was it a car whose cargo demanded a speedy exit? Maryann Margolies says the GPD discounted the importance of the tire marks, and to her knowledge never pursued the matter. Suspect number one had a car at his disposal.

Chillingly provocative questions that only the murderer and the police seem able to answer.

After 15 years the loss of her only son to such horrible circumstances is an everyday reality for Maryann Margolies. She still lives in the same home on Pilgrim Drive with her husband Jim. The troubling possibility that some one in her neighborhood brutally murdered her defenseless child is a pain that is compounded by the belief that there are individuals who know who that person is and they are protecting him for whatever reason. Just the thought of that brings tears to the eyes of the now 54-year old grandmother.

Maryann Margolies has been reassured by police investigators that the murder of her only son was probably not a premeditated crime and that the person or persons responsible for it would never repeat it. But as the mother of the murdered child said:

"How can anyone confidently say that. I feel that if someone has done something like this once what's to prevent them from repeating this under the same set of circumstances. People have to wake up in this community and realize this is not Apple pie, USA. Bad things happen here just like anywhere else and people have to be alert and attuned to that. Maybe I can be blamed for using poor judgment but at the time I believed a 13-year old boy could be left to fish in his own backyard in Greenwich, Connecticut. Well, obviously I was wrong. And if it wasn't safe then, what makes it more safe now?"

Matthew never lived to see his mother happily remarried, or see his sister married and have children of her own. He is painfully missed at all family get-togethers and holidays. His mother fondly remembers that he was just getting interested in girls and began paying a little more attention to his appearance. Maryann smiles when she remembers how she would catch the pre-pubescent preening in front of the mirror.

Maryann no longer drives up the section of Pemberwick Road where Matthew's body was found. The memories of those days 15 years ago are still an open wound. No one but those who have experienced what she has can ever appreciate the tremendous grief she lives with. Yet through all the pain and suffering she has experienced as a result of her sons murder she would be go through the painful loss all over again just to have those 13 years of Matthew's life that was so intertwined with her own back again.

There is a memorial plaque on the small bridge that spans the Byram River over a dammed portion in Glenville that he was so fond of fishing. It reads:

"Matthew Margolies, An Excellent Angler, And Now With God, 1971-1984".

It is a modest testament to a life of unfulfilled dreams.

Note: This narrative was by Kevin F. McMurry

After The National Press Looks Into The Unsolved Mathew Margolies Case. They Will Probably Start Looking At Other Screwed Up Greenwich Murder Investigations.

The National Media Might Even Start Asking Questions Like....

"Why doesn't anyone ever write about the Klein murder?"
"The 1975 Greenwich, CT murder case
still draws scrutiny"


Seven months and two days after Martha Moxley was found bludgeoned to death, the bodies of Joanne Kim Klein, 30, and her maid Martha Lema, 28, were found at their Perkins Road house on the night of June 2, 1976. They had each been shot twice in the head, execution-style, with a 9-millimeter handgun.

A former fashion model turned photographer, Kim Klein had at one time been married to a reputed Chicago mobster and was said to be close to the infamous late gangster Sam Giancana (the two died within weeks of each other). Her maid, Lema, was rumored to have ties to a drug smuggling ring.

After the discovery of the two women's bodies, police questioned Kim Klein's former husband, James Klein, who lived in Manhattan at the time. According to police, Klein said that he had visited his ex-wife several hours before the bodies were found, but that the former couple had gotten into an argument and he had left.

n September of the same year, James Klein was arrested and charged with the two murders. He was freed on bail in November, only to die four months later, allegedly by suicide in his Manhattan apartment on Feb. 7, 1977. He was 38. An empty bottle of pills was found near his body and his death was ruled to be caused by an overdose of barbiturates. Multiple suicide notes, in which Klein lashed out angrily at the Greenwich Police Department and the prosecutors office for his arrest and indictment, were found near the body.

The Greenwich police have ruled the case closed. "Her husband was arrested," Chief Peter Robbins explained Tuesday. But in the minds of some, "case closed" does not mean "solved completely."

Former Greenwich police detective Stephen Carroll investigated the Klein case with his partner James Lunney, shortly before Carroll's retirement in 1977. In an interview Tuesday, Carroll cited the pairs experience working the Moxley case as a reason why the two were assigned to the Klein murder. When local authorities discovered James Klein was in Florida at the time a warrant was issued for his arrest, the two flew down and took him into custody in Pompano Beach.

"There was all kinds of inferences," Carroll said, in reference to clues or rumors about the killing apart from James Klein's involvement. But Carroll added that he did not do follow up work on any of these clues or rumors. "If Jim Lunney or [then-captain of detectives] Tom Keegan did, I'm not aware of that," he said.

Because talk existed of the killing being linked to organized crime, especially due to Kim Klein's alleged former associations in Chicago, Carroll said, "I think [Lunney and I] asked if we could go [to Chicago] -- the answer was no."

Through neutron activation tests on James Klein's hands after the murder, Carroll said the Greenwich police detected a substance which might have been linked to the 9-millimeter used in the killing.

"He either had fired the weapon or handled the bullets," Carroll said. He added that the trace substance detected on Klein's hands was "faint."

Asked if he believed the late James Klein killed his former wife, Carroll replied, "You know, that's a very good question. I really don't think so." But according to Carroll's theory, this belief does not exonerate James Klein from all responsibility for the crime. The former detective believes that Klein was present in the bedroom when his ex-wife was shot to death.

"It was our feeling that somebody else killed her," Carroll said. He also added that "I'm not sure if it was [James Klein's] orders. There was some connotations of drugs in the house." He added that the whole scene seemed "very much like a mob hit."

"We felt [Klein] was the one who scooped up the shells, but he missed one," Carroll said.

That one 9-mm shell was found on the bedspread -- the same bedspread which bore Kim Klein, lying flat on her back, with her knees hanging off the bed and her feet almost touching the floor, according to Carroll. The maid, said to have been found in the bathroom, was likely shot dead to silence her future testimony to investigators, Carroll added.

But if James Klein did not shoot his wife, at least one murderer has not been brought to justice to this day. And the murderer might have had a whole organization behind him or her on the day the two young women were killed.

Eerily enough, Carroll also ties together Kim Klein's murder to the reported suicide of her former husband months later while he was out on bail.

"I don't know that he did take his own life," Carroll said, pointing out the organized crime factor, even the possibility that the suicide notes were forced or forged. Carroll added that to his knowledge, handwriting tests were never performed on the letters.

"I think the individuals responsible were under some pressure that he might talk," Carroll said. And of the suicide note: "Anybody can tell you what you write in a note," the former detective remarked.

"I think he was told `Jim, it'd be a good idea if you took these pills.'"

Dumas', former editor of the now-defunct Greenwich News, refers to the Klein murder as "a fascinating case" "The police consider that one solved, but a lot of people seem to differ," he said. Fishing out a recollection of the case, Dumas said of Kim Klein, "She was very afraid in the last weeks of her life and afraid of her husband."

In June of 1976, the late James Klein's family demanded $20 million in damages from the town of Greenwich, citing civil rights violations, malicious prosecution, wrongful death, false arrest and false imprisonment among other grounds. According to Carroll, no settlement was ever reached and the town never paid any amount to the Klein family. But a book, "Rape of the Blindfolded Lady," written by James Klein's sister Carole Raft, was published several years later. In the account, James Klein is portrayed as an unfortunate victim.

Former Los Angeles police detective and Moxley case book author Mark Fuhrman said Tuesday that while investigating the Moxley case, beginning in 1997, he and his associate Stephen Weeks had also reviewed the Klein case and found the department's lack of evidence "shocking," considering James Klein's arrest.

"I'm not saying that [James Klein] didn't do it, but what they had down wasn't enough," Fuhrman said.

"The Klein case was not a clean case," he continued. "The evidence that I saw that Greenwich was using and holding Klein without bail was ridiculous." (Actually Klein was originally being held on $250,000 bail, an amount he could not post.) Fuhrman also questioned the necessity of local authorities in originally sealing the warrant for James Klein's arrest (it was later unsealed).

The prosecution's case, Fuhrman contended, contained "no eyewitnesses, no one could put him at the scene of the crime."

He continued, "The Klein case stunk when I read what I read about it. If you're going to charge somebody with murder, you have to connect them to the crime scene at the time of the murder. You've got to corroborate it through some piece of evidence."

And as for neutron tests on the hands, Fuhrman said, "there's a lot of things that can transfer that," citing fertilizer as an example. Fuhrman also pointed out the possibility of a neutron test coming back positive if a subject owns a gun. James Klein is said to have owned three.

"The only time [those tests are] brought into court is when they're 100 percent positive and the [reading] was so high," Fuhrman said, contradicting the "faint" reading described by Carroll.

After no arrest in Martha Moxley's murder, seven months earlier, Fuhrman contended that the Klein case was a "must solve" for the Greenwich Police Department. Asked if that would explain why an arrest might be made with supposedly so little evidence, Fuhrman replied, "Well, Tom Keegan's your key; he screwed up the Moxley case."

Keegan, the captain of Greenwich police detectives at the time of the Moxley and Klein murders and later Greenwich police chief, could not be reached at his home in Myrtle Beach, S.C. where he serves in the state House of Representatives.

Even if James Klein is proven innocent, Carroll says he's skeptical any other participants in the crime can be brought to justice.

"I doubt it -- it's like one of those things that happen in the city quite often and [the perpetrator's] never found," he said.

Note: This narrative was by Peter Moore

==============================
Please send comments to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com


When is a flip-flop not a flip flop?
When it’s someone from YOUR party who you like who’s doing it (then it’s a thoughtful reconsideration of a past position).

When is a flip-flop a flip flop?
When someone from the OTHER party is doing it (then it’s sleazy politics as usual).


Monday, March 24, 2008

03/24/08 - Kissel Murder Mystery - Has A Deal Been Cut With The Unemployed Leonard Trujillo Who Only Has A $10,000 Bail And Has Waived Extradition?


Leonard Trujillo of Worcester, accused of killing a Connecticut man, signs paperwork as his lawyer, Michael C. O'Doherty, right, looks on.
(Paul Kapteyn)

What's Going On At Stamford Superior Court?

Is Judge Robin Pavia Treating Both Sides Equally?


A State Resident Who Is An Employed Accused Conspirator Gets A One Million Dollar Bail.

An Out Of State And Unemployed Accused Murderer Only Gets A Bail Of Ten Grand.


City man to return to Connecticut to face murder charge

Worcester Telegram, MA

By Gary V. Murray

TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WORCESTER— A Worcester man waived rendition today and is expected to be taken to Connecticut tomorrow to face...

...Leonard Trujillo, 21, of 63 Outlook Drive, Apt. 13, was at his home Saturday morning when he was arrested and charged with being a fugitive from justice after being charged Friday in Connecticut with the April 3, 2006, stabbing death of 46-year-old Andrew Kissel in the victim’s Greenwich mansion. Also charged in the slaying is 47-year-old Carlos Trujillo, Mr. Kissel’s former driver, who was identified by the Associated Press as Leonard Trujillo’s cousin.

Leonard Trujillo agreed to waive rendition proceedings after being arraigned this morning in Central District court on the fugitive from justice charge. At the request of Assistant District Attorney Roberta A. O’Brien, Judge David B. Locke ordered Mr. Trujillo held without bail and continued his case until tomorrow. Ms. O’Brien told the judge Connecticut authorities would come to Worcester tomorrow to transport Mr. Trujillo to Connecticut.

Moving company employees found Mr. Kissel tied up and stabbed to death just days before he was to plead guilty in a multi-million-dollar real estate fraud case in New York, according to the AP.

Lawyer Michael C. O’Doherty, who was appointed to represent Mr. Trujillo at today’s arraignment, asked that his client’s bail be set at $10,000 cash....
.

03/24/08 - Media Frenzy - Lindy Urso said he believes his client has been charged because he was “the easiest suspect.”


Carlos Trujillo is escorted into a courtroom in handcuffs, Monday March 24, 2008 at Stamford Superior Court, in Stamford, Conn., to appear at his arraignment hearing in connection to the 2006 Greenwich, Conn., murder of Andrew Kissell.
(Photo/George Rhul)

The Kissel Murder Mystery


Was pressure used to get false statements?

What was the motive?

Where is the weapon?

Can the police follow the money?

Has Greenwich Police Chief David Ridberg dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's?

Driver arrested, pleads not guilty to Kissel murder

Greenwich Post, CT

Bridgeport resident Carlos Trujillo has pleaded not guilty to the murder of backcountry resident Andrew Kissel and is now being held in jail on a $1 million ...

Investigation continues

At a press conference today, Greenwich Chief of Police David Ridberg said the investigation remains open. The warrants in the case remain sealed for now and Chief Ridberg said when the information is revealed, it will be “a good story.”

“There’s still information to be developed and we still need to discern some fact patterns,” Chief Ridberg said at the press conference. “We need to look and find if anyone else was involved in this case.”

No specifics of the case were revealed at the press conference. Chief Ridberg said the case could end with just the two men arrested, but there could also be more to come.

“If there’s some information developed that shows us that someone else was involved in the crime we will act on it,” he said.

In the early stages of the investigation, Chief Ridberg said police determined that Carlos Trujillo was the last person to see Mr. Kissel alive. He later added that Leonard Trujillo’s name became a part of the investigation “not immediately but not late.”

Mr. Urso said he didn’t think his client knew his cousin “all that well” and added he was looking forward to reading through the warrant, which he received a copy of on Monday, to see why police determined the crime took place. Mr. Urso contends his client and Mr. Kissel had a close relationship and that he had no motive for killing him.

Chief Ridberg said he wouldn’t comment on what motive police believe the two men had for murder. Because Mr. Kissel was in financial distress at the time of his death and was scheduled to plead guilty to both a local bank fraud charge and in an unrelated New York fraud case, some who heard of the case speculated Mr. Kissel might have hired someone to kill him so his children would receive insurance payments from his death.

Chief Ridberg neither dismissed nor accepted that possibility, but confirmed the police investigated that view. He said the department’s research showed there had been only two cases nationwide where such a scenario had happened and called it “an extremely rare form of homicide.”

“We never said that we believed that it was [suicide for hire] and we never said that we didn’t believe,” Chief Ridberg said. “It’s been promulgated by people outside the police department and not us. If it ends up being the case, that’s fine. If it ends up not being the case, that’s fine too. We’re more into discerning the facts of the case.”...

...
Two years since murder

The Trujillos’ arrests come close to the two-year anniversary of the discovery of Mr. Kissel’s body by movers coming to take furniture out of his home. No time of death has been released by the police, but Chief Ridberg said they think it took place during the weekend.

Chief Ridberg said the investigation was conducted incrementally with information coming in that led to other information and ultimately to the arrests, a process he compared to building blocks.

“There was no ‘Ah hah moment’ that led to the arrests,” Chief Ridberg said, adding that the information had to be corroborated to the point where the State’s Attorney’s Office would be comfortable signing an arrest warrant.

Mr. Urso repeated claims on Monday that the police had been pressuring his client’s family and threatening it with deportation unless members said “what they wanted to hear.” He maintained he wasn’t criticizing the investigation or calling it improperly done but said that his client’s nephew has already been deported and said others have been “strong armed.”

During the press conference, Chief Ridberg specifically mentioned Mr. Urso and his past comments.

“He makes it sound as if we snatched a 5-year-old boy off the streets and tossed him over to immigration and customs and had him deported,” Chief Ridberg said. “That’s not the case. The person that was deported was a verified gangster in New York City with a group that specialized in home invasions. He’s a convicted felon. Deporting him was not a case of the government preying on the weak.”

Chief Ridberg said he didn’t want to get “into a mud slinging contest” with Mr. Urso and that he understands he has a job to do as Mr. Trujillo’s attorney, but he firmly rejected any idea that the police department improperly obtained information from its interviews.

Chief Ridberg said various law enforcement agencies assisted in the investigation, including the New York Police Department, the Connecticut and Massachusetts Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the federal Department of Homeland Security, military police from Fort Jackson, S.C., and police departments from as far away as Philadelphia, Pa. and Miramar, Fla. He added that the Worcester Police Department and the Stamford State’s Attorney’s Office “helped us the most.”

It was not revealed why the DEA, which was present at the time of Carlos Trujillo’s arrest, was involved, but Chief Ridberg said Mr. Kissel had been a drug user at the time of his death.

According to Chief Ridberg, so many other agencies were involved because of all the information that needed to be gathered and all the people that needed to be interviewed in the case. He estimated police had interviewed hundreds of people in connection with the case and credited the work of the Greenwich Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division....


More Reports....

Chauffeur: I Didn't Kill Conn. Developer

The Associated Press

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) — A chauffeur charged with conspiracy to commit murder says he didn't kill a Greenwich, Conn., developer who had been days away from ...

...Trujillo was being led out of police headquarters Monday when a reporter asked the 47-year-old if he killed Kissel. "No I didn't," he replied.

Trujillo pleaded not guilty later Monday and is being held in lieu of $1 million bond.

His 21-year-old cousin Leonard Trujillo was arrested Saturday in Worcester...

Kissel murder suspect charged

Stamford Advocate, CT

By Martin B. Cassidy

Very shortly after Andrew M. Kissel was stabbed to death, police felt Carlos Trujillo, Kissel¹s long time chaffeur and assistant was a ...

....
Ridberg said police continue to investigate the case, but would not say how many more arrests might stem from the bloody killing.

'This is far from over and there is still a lot of information which we need to determine,' Ridberg said. Greenwich Police arrested Trujillo, 47, at 9:45 p.m. Friday night in Stratford on a conspiracy to commit murder charge, with Greenwich and Stratford police along with federal drug agents intercepting Trujillo¹s livery car on a street off of Route 1.

At 8 a.m. Saturday, Leonard Trujillo, 21, was arrested by Worcester Police Department detectives at his home and charged with one count each of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, police said. The arrest warrants are sealed, Ridberg said....

KISSEL MURDER POSSIBLY A SUICIDE-FOR-HIRE

New York Post, NY

Greenwich cops today left open the possibility that millionaire real estate mogul Andrew Kissel paid his assistant and another man to kill him - leaving a ...

...real estate mogul Andrew Kissel paid his assistant and another man to kill him - leaving a $15 million life insurance policy to his family.

"If it ends up being the case, that's fine," said Police Chief David Ridberg, referring to the theory that was first reported by The Post shortly after the April 2006 murder.

"If it doesn't end up being the case, that's fine too.

"We won't talk about motive," he added. "There was no particular 'aha!' moment that led to the arrest."

Kissel was about to plead guilty to federal real estate fraud charges when he was found beaten and stabbed to death in his Greenwich mansion. He was also in the midst of a bitter split with his wife, Hayley.

Carlos Trujillo, 47, Kissel's assistant and driver, was long considered a suspect, but wasn't arrested until this past weekend.

He was to be arraigned later today at Stamford Superior Court on conspiracy charges in the brutal 2006 beating and stabbing death of Kissel in his Greenwich mansion.

His cousin, Leonard Trujillo, 21, who is charged with actual murder, waived extradition in a hearing in Worcester, Mass.

He turned to his wife and mouthed the words, "I love you," as he was led from the courtroom.

He will be transported back to Connecticut after a second court appearance tomorrow.

"This obviously was an important case, and as I've said, its not finished yet," Ridberg said....

ALSO PLEASE SEE....

03/22/08 - Greenwich News Wire - Murder Arrest - Police Say It Was The Driver And Another Person (Multiple Articles)



03/23/08 - More On The High Profile Greenwich Murder Mystery - Many Questions Unanswered



03/24/08 - Detectives never seemed to have enough for an arrest, said his Greenwich lawyer Lindy Urso.

03/24/08 - I don’t want to get this guys rep, as some guy who gets all uppity about the local government cause, you know, this is supposed to be a ...


"Last week I got on the GPD’s and Greenwich Time’s case about this drug bust, where 3 teenagers got charged with misdemeanor possession and it hit the papers like it was some kind of epic win on the war on drugs."

Yearlong Greenwich Police Sting Yields Mom, Son, with 2 Ounces Of ...

By Chris

There’s this blogger, I won’t link to him, but he ‘Rounds Up’ Greenwich news everyday in his blog, which is a little more than frenetic, featuring multicolored, centered text of various sizes.

His blog got some attention in The FC because he waged a public battle against the Greenwich Police Chief with it. Now he basically just reposts a lot of headlines and what-not.

The reason I mention this is that I don’t want to get this guys rep, as some guy who gets all uppity about the local government cause, you know, this is supposed to be a commuter blog, and that stuff is boring (Says Chris The Administrator Of The Peppy Crisp And Clean - No Caffeine Blog Called StationStopzzzzzzzzzzzz ..... zzzzz...... zzzz .... zzzz .... zzzz .... ).

But I got to get in this last jab…

Last week I got on the GPD’s and Greenwich Time’s case about this drug bust, where 3 teenagers got charged with misdemeanor possession and it hit the papers like it was some kind of epic win on the war on drugs.

Well, today we had a similar story from the Greenwich Time, where a mother and son were busted as part of a year-long investigation - with less than 2 ounces of pot, a pot pipe, and 2 valium tablets.

I guess I am jaded from watching The Wire and other TV shows, but it seems like in the real world of narcotics, a bust like this is considered routine, with year-long investigations targeting the big boys who are *supplying* the little guys who are driving around public housing with baggies.

Especially in Fairfield County, where we all know there are many backcountry mansions housing enough cocaine to get one through the longest hedge fund recession - I think the Greenwich Narcotics Department could bring in bigger fish if they set their sights a little higher.

OK, So I get it, this mom’s been dealing dimebags for a while and its pissed of the locals - sure, go arrest her - but lets spend out ‘yearlong’ investigation time on something more worthwhile, eh?

StationStops - http://www.stationstops.com


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GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."
-- Albert Einstein

03/24/08 - Detectives never seemed to have enough for an arrest, said his Greenwich lawyer Lindy Urso.


ATTORNEY LINDY URSO SAYS GREENWICH POLICE DEPARTMENT MAY HAVE GOTTEN CARLOS TRUJILLO'S 21 YEAR OLD COUSIN TO TESTIFY FALSELY.

Lawyer questions Kissel evidence


Greenwich Time - Staff Writer

As two cousins sat jailed in two different municipalities awaiting their first hearing in court today on charges of murder, a lawyer representing one of them said he wants to know what evidence has led police to make the arrests now, nearly two years after the murder took place.

Days after Andrew Kissel was stabbed to death in the basement of his Dairy Road mansion, detectives had already identified one of the men as a suspect. Police had interviewed Carlos Trujillo, 47, who was Kissel's long-time chauffeur and assistant, several times, but detectives never seemed to have enough for an arrest, said his Greenwich lawyer Lindy Urso....

"It may well be that in Leonard they finally found someone who could be compromised, who had enough of his own problems that he was willing to testify falsely against Carlos. We'll have to wait and see."

...Urso was reacting to comments Leonard Trujillo's wife made to the New York Post, telling the tabloid that her husband said Carlos Trujillo had been "trying to use him to give him some money to do something." Brenda Trujillo could not be reached for comment yesterday....


More News Reports From The Greenwich Time....

Easter draws believers to beach

On a frigid morning, church music rang from the Greenwich Point Park beach as the last of the Easter worshipers arrived, toting their beach chairs and blankets yesterday.

Avenue proposals a tough fit
The expansion proposals for the new senior center could be a tough fit in the present facility on Greenwich Avenue, according to Sam Deibler, director of the town Commission on Aging.

YMCA gets state grant for child-care program
Another child-care facility will soon open in downtown Greenwich.

=========================================================

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