Report: Trooper stayed at party where cocaine was used
Trooper did not consume drugs, claim cocaine was sniffed off badge ‘could not be proven,’ according to withheld document
After refusing for months to release an Internal Affairs investigation report about alleged trooper misconduct, state police sent a copy of the record to Hearst Connecticut Media Group, revealing details about a trooper who attended a party where cocaine was allegedly used by others.
The records say the department sustained internal charges against Canaan-based state trooper Roger Lapointe because, while off duty, he stayed at a post-wedding party at a Newington apartment in 2019 for 30 to 45 minutes after he learned other guests were allegedly in possession of cocaine. The report said Lapointe was offered drugs while at the party, but internal investigators concluded he did not consume any drugs.
After the party, a photo circulated via text message among friends of the wedding party showing a man holding Lapointe's tri-fold wallet and displaying his state police badge, the report said. The man and Lapointe had met just a few hours earlier and, at the party, the man allegedly offered Lapointe cocaine while holding a rolled-up dollar bill, according to the report.
An accusation emerged that “one or more people at the residence had sniffed cocaine off the back side” of Lapointe's badge, the report said.
But, the report said the allegation that cocaine was sniffed off Lapointe's badge “could not be proven.”
“Two key witnesses chose not to cooperate & did not provide any testimony in this investigation,” the report noted.
State police internal investigators said in their report Lapointe denied engaging in “any illegal activities,” and investigators concluded in the report Lapointe did not consume drugs while at the party.
The department sustained internal charges against Lapointe for staying at a party where drugs were present and for not safeguarding his badge. The agency issued a two-day suspension, records show.
Hearst Connecticut Media first requested the report in November 2021.
State police, in a February 2022 response, refused to provide a copy, citing a state law that protects an officer's privacy by allowing the officer to object to release of personnel records.
In March, the news outlet filed a complaint with the state Freedom of Information Commission seeking to force the agency to provide the report.
Hearst Connecticut Media published an article earlier this month about the department's refusal to provide the report. Meanwhile, a hearing before the FOI commission was scheduled for June 27.
Last week, state police agreed to provide the report with minor redactions that omitted the identity of some who attended the Newington gathering and a minimal amount of additional detail.
Cynthia Isales, the state police legal director, said the agency decided to release the report after conferring with Lapointe.
“Trooper Lapointe and I agreed that the record with the applied redactions no longer raised any privacy concerns,” Isales said.
Lapointe did not respond to an email seeking comment about the report sent to his state police email account.
Hearst Connecticut Media subsequently withdrew its complaint before the FOI Commission.
The after party
According to the report, Lapointe, after attending a wedding reception in Simsbury, traveled to a Newington apartment for an after party. At one point, a man allegedly offered Lapointe cocaine and this person, whose name is being withheld by Hearst because he was not charged with a crime, was observed by Lapointe to be holding a "rolled up dollar bill," the report said.
The report added that “no illegal substances were taken out in front of [Lapointe] at that time.”
Lapointe told the man that he was a state trooper, according to the report. The man said he did not believe Lapointe and that Lapointe seemed to be too young to be a trooper.
Lapointe said he was 30 years old and displayed his tri-fold wallet containing his badge and ID. He returned the wallet to his jacket and then placed the jacket on a living room couch, the report said.
The report said a photo of the same man holding Lapointe's badge later circulated via text message. Internal investigators in their report said they did not know who took the photo. The report said internal investigators learned that the man in the photo “uses cocaine on a recreational basis per testimony.”
Investigators recommended sustaining two internal charges against Lapointe – conduct unbecoming an officer and failure to protect department property from misuse – and he was given a two-day suspension, records show.
“Tpr. Lapointe failed to remove himself from the apartment in Newington … when he was aware he was in the presence of people using & in possession of narcotics,” investigators wrote in the report. “Instead of leaving the apartment, he stayed for approximately 30-45 minutes within the apartment with identified people known to possess illegal narcotics (cocaine), as it was offered to him & he declined.”
Investigators added “Lapointe did not safeguard his department issued badge & keep it in his possession, [which] provided an opportunity to take possession of Lapointe's wallet & take photographs. The photo was used to create a narrative about Tpr. Lapointe & drug use associated with the CSP badge. This had a negative image on DESPP by the civilians involved in this matter. The fact that this incident was sent via text to several friends of the bridal patty portrayed [state police] in a negative light.”
The withheld report
Through a request under the state Freedom of Information Law, Hearst Connecticut Media last year obtained a copy of a log maintained by state police that listed basic details about hundreds of internal investigations into alleged trooper misconduct.
The data was a critical component of a recently published three-part series on alleged state police misconduct and punishment meted out by superiors.
For that coverage, Hearst Connecticut Media sought to better understand a select number of cases listed in the log by requesting additional documentation.
One such involved an allegation that Lapointe in 2019 “allowed illegal narcotics to be sniffed from his CSP badge.” The log showed department investigators recommended sustaining internal charges against Lapointe in connection with the case.
The log noted that “a photograph of an unknown person seen holding his tri-fold wallet displaying his badge was taken and circulated via text.”
But state police for months refused to release the report.
Cynthia Isales, legal director for the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, said the denial was based on state law that protects an officer's privacy by allowing him to object to release of personnel records.
“With respect to Lapointe, it is the agency's belief that release of that record would constitute an invasion of privacy,” Isales wrote in an email. “The trooper was therefore afforded the ability to object pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-214. He did object. We will therefore not release that record.”
The Lapointe report was the only one state police refused to release when Hearst Connecticut Media requested several internal affairs reports.
In its complaint to the FOI Commission, the news outlet said the agency's refusal to provide the report constituted a violation of the state FOI law.
“The legal exemption the agency cited Conn. Gen. Stat. 1-214 was overturned/nullified by the Connecticut General Assembly's passage of Public Act 20-1 in 2020,” said the complaint from Hearst Connecticut Media, referring to the Police Accountability Act.
“Since then, the collective bargaining organization/union that represents State Police troopers has unsuccessfully challenged this law change in court,” the complaint added.
“The union's challenges in court have thus far been denied, including an injunction it sought to bar the release of information pending the resolution in court. Therefore, the agency currently has no legal grounds to withhold these records and must produce them immediately,” the news outlet's complaint said.