New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Ex-cop who sued city, chief, seeking police leave records
WEST HAVEN — The lawyer for a former city police sergeant who had been charged with forgery is seeking Police Department records as the former officer’s lawsuit against the city and chief moves forward.
Former Sgt. David Tammaro’s suit alleges city police knew he was signing supervisors’ initials to approve overtime expenses, which led to him being charged with dozens of counts of forgery. His attorney is now seeking police documents
that show how certain department leave was authorized.
State police arrested Tammaro in October 2018, charging him with 87 counts of second-degree forgery. The charges were later dismissed; Tammaro received accelerated rehabilitation.
A state prosecutor said at the time that Tammaro was accused of forging supervisors’ signatures on overtime requests, but was not accused of being paid inappropriately.
A report from attorney Gregory Cerritelli, however, done at the request of city Corporation Counsel Lee Tiernan, concluded Tammaro had inflated his hours in some instances.
Tammaro, represented by attorney Patricia Cofrancesco, filed suit in August against the city and Police Chief Joseph Perno.
The suit alleges Cerritelli and Tiernan were negligent in suggesting in the report that Tammaro had inflated his hours, as the document failed to appropriately detail or substantiate supposed instances of this practice, and that Perno allegedly had known and previously approved of the practice of signing supervisors’ initials to overtime slips, but reported otherwise to Cerritelli and state police.
Perno previously had been Tammaro’s supervisor, the complaint alleges, and investigated a departmental complaint pertaining to the practice in 2015 without suggesting it be changed.
It allegedly continued when former Chief John Karajanis became Tammaro’s supervisor in 2017, but was called into question by a complaint from Capt. Robert Proto, which prompted the city and state police investigation, the suit alleges.
“(Tammaro) was deprived of his constitutional right to equal protection of the laws in that he was the only West Haven police officer accused and investigated for larceny and forgery for overtime practices while others engaged in and continue to engage in the same practice of overtime submission,” Cofrancesco wrote in the suit. “As a direct and proximate result of the acts and omissions of the defendants ... plaintiff was deprived of his constitutional right to due process ... (and) faced false criminal charges and an unfair trial.”
Attorney Michael Leone, representing Perno and the city, denied city attorneys failed to use appropriate care in handling the allegations; that Perno or Karajanis were aware it was allegedly customary for the public information officer to sign supervisors’ initials on overtime slips; and that Perno had made false statements to the city and state police in November, according to a document Leone filed in court.
Cofrancesco filed an affidavit Thursday arguing the court should consider whether the city should be compelled to release leave slips for two other sergeants, which the city has declined to share, citing medical privacy laws.
She said she wanted to review the documents to see who authorized leave and how, according to an email from her to Leone filed as an exhibit.
Perno declined to comment on the matter Tuesday, noting that the case was ongoing. Leone and Tiernan did not respond to a request for comment. Karajanis could not be reached for comment.
Tammaro retired from the police department in 2018, after spending several months on paid administrative leave. He served as a West Haven police officer for 28 years and as its spokesman for several years.