A backlog in sexual assault investigations

BRIDGEPORT — The collapse of the city police department’s Youth Bureau and retirements within the force have caused a backlog in the investigation of sexual assault cases.

Sources in the Bridgeport Police Department said as many as two dozen cases have languished in various stages of investigation for as long as five years.

Bridgeport State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino recently appointed two prosecutors to work with the police department to get the cases ready for prosecution. However, sources said because of the time lapse, some of the cases are already beyond the statute of limitations.

“Capt. Brian Fitzgerald of the Detective Bureau has been working diligently to address the situation he inherited when the Youth Bureau was dissolved,” Corradino said. “I’ve assigned two prosecutors and an inspector to provide whatever assistance he needs, given the existence of 17 vacancies in the Detective Bureau. I believe progress is being made on the open cases.”

The bureau has a current staff of 37.

Police won’t say how many cases are outstanding or for how long.

“We are working in conjunction with prosecutors and inspectors from the State’s Attorney’s office in Bridgeport to streamline the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases,” said Fitzgerald, who heads the Detective Bureau. “This partnership will help Bridgeport Police with resources to investigate these crimes while we await the promotion of new detectives to fill vacancies in the Special Victims Unit.”

The Special Victims Unit was established in 2018 when then-Police Chief Armando Perez dissolved the Youth Bureau after allegations that case files were being stuffed in drawers and forgotten after detectives were transferred to other areas of the department.

“The Bridgeport Police Department has been undergoing restructuring and reorganization of divisions,” Police Department Spokesman Scott Appleby told Hearst Connecticut Media earlier this year.

At the time, some detectives in the former Youth Bureau were reassigned to other entities within the Detective Bureau, he said. As part of the reorganization, Appleby said the Special Victims Unit was designated to investigate all sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse allegations. He said officers in this division undergo special training.

“Detectives and supervisors of the Special Victims Unit uncovered several cases dating back to 2013 that were a part of the original Youth Bureau files,” Appleby confirmed. “These cases were reviewed, and when necessary re-investigated, and evidence was sent to the state laboratory when appropriate. If probable cause existed to charge, a warrant was applied for.”

Previously, Perez had appointed Sgt. Joseph Hernandez, who had no prior experience in investigating cases having come from a patrol position, to lead the Youth Bureau.

Hernandez retired around the time the Youth Bureau was disbanded.The last straw for the Youth Bureau, according to law enforcement sources, was the two years it took to investigate the sexual assault of an 8-year-old girl.

Police acknowledged that although they began the sexual assault investigation in April 2015, Youth Bureau detectives didn’t send the rape kit to the state lab for DNA processing until April 2017 when the suspect, 31-year-old Derrick Siberon, was being investigated for the death of his 10-monthold son.

The state police lab identified Siberon’s DNA in the rape kit taken from the girl.

As part of a plea deal, Siberon was sentenced to two concurrent 15-year sentences — followed by 20 years of probation.

Police also acknowledged in court documents that a 2015 sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl was not fully investigated for two years because the original investigator was transferred out of the Youth

Bureau and not replaced.

But sources said while the Special Victims Unit looked good on paper, it failed to get off the ground.

Because of retirements in the police department there are only two detectives assigned to handle sexual assault cases — both new ones and the many old cases transferred from the Youth Bureau, the sources said.