The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Dire condition’
Fotis Dulos in critical condition at Bronx hospital as police search his Conn. home
STAMFORD — A Superior Court judge has ordered Fotis Dulos to be rearrested as he remains in “dire condition” at a New York hospital following his apparent suicide attempt at his Farmington home where police returned with a search warrant late Wednesday.
A convoy of state and Farmington police went to Dulos’ home at 4 Jefferson Crossing after a search warrant they had been waiting for was signed.
“As a part of their continued investigation, the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crimes detectives have obtained and are executing a search warrant at the home of Fotis Dulos,” Farmington Police Lt. Timothy McKenzie said.
Police had been guarding the property since they found Dulos unresponsive in his garage Tuesday afternoon when he failed to show up for a bond hearing.
Attorneys for Dulos said they are concerned their client has little chance of recovery after police and paramedics performed
CPR for about 30 minutes before a pulse was detected Tuesday.
“He is in critical condition," defense attorney Norm Pattis said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family."
Pattis said he “can’t speculate” on why Dulos attempted suicide.
Fotis Dulos, 52, had been released on house arrest on $6 million bond after being charged this month on murder, felony murder and first-degree kidnapping in the death and disappearance of his estranged wife, Jennifer Dulos.
However, an emergency bond hearing was called Tuesday when Palmetto Surety Corporation, which posted the bond, was concerned about the collateral real estate properties Fotis Dulos had put up from his struggling business, Fore Group.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Palmetto claimed its risk analyst found “imperfections in the collateral provided” by Dulos. The concerns listed by Palmetto included an inflated valuation of Fotis Dulos’ New Canaan residence by $325,000. The Sturbridge Hill Road home and his Jefferson Crossing property are also under foreclosure.
Dulos’ failure to identify these concerns in his application for bond, Palmetto claims, have caused the company to “exceed the limitations of risk” as set by state statute.
After being notified of the hearing, Dulos called a bail bondsman who had put up two $500,000 bonds for him last year when he was charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in the case. When the bondsman called him back at 10:34 a.m. Tuesday, Dulos told him he was “all set.”
Probation officers monitoring Dulos’ location before his bond hearing
noted that he had not left his residence for Stamford Superior Court less than an hour before he was scheduled to appear at noon.
Around 11:40 a.m., probation officers attempted to contact Dulos via cellphone and again at 11:46 a.m. Both calls went unanswered, prompting the officers to respond to his residence with Farmington police, according to court documents filed Wednesday by Robert LaPlant, a chief probation officer in Hartford.
Farmington police said they found Dulos unresponsive inside his running Chevy Suburban in the garage.
Dulos was initially considered dead. Pattis said it was his understanding that police notified his client’s relatives and his estranged wife’s family of his death before a weak pulse was detected.
He was eventually flown in critical condition to Jacobi Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. Barbara Delorio, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Wednesday she could not provide information on his condition.
The scene at the hospital was quiet on Wednesday with a few media trucks parked nearby. There were no signs of Fotis Dulos’ relatives from Greece who were expected to arrive on Wednesday and the media was asked to stay off the hospital property.
Dulos is being treated in the hospital’s hyperbaric chamber that allows a patient to breathe in pure oxygen three times higher than normal air pressure.
Pattis said the defense is relying on doctors to determine the reasonable prognosis for recovery.
If Dulos recovers from the carbon monoxide poisoning and is released from the hospital, he will be rearrested, Superior Court Judge Gary White said Wednesday during the rescheduled bond hearing. White slightly raised the bond to $6.5 million — $500,000 more than the
previous amount.
White said New York authorities in the meantime will protect Dulos while he’s in the hospital. Pattis said his client is on the “functional equivalent” of a psychiatric hold.
The arrangement will make it easier for family and those authorized to visit, especially if these happen to be his last days, according to attorney Kevin Smith, who is part of the Dulos legal team.
“Today’s agreement is a recognition of the difficulty of his medical condition,” Pattis said. “We’ve agreed that (Dulos) can be in rearrest status when and if he’s capable to returning to court and the court indicated they’re open to hearing our motion to vacate the re-arrest. In other words, that will return the clock to where it is.”
At that point, New York high-profile bondsman Ira Judelson will take over the bond. Judelson has been called the “bail bondsman to the stars,” assisting Harvey Weinstein, MMA fighter McGregor, former NFL player Lawrence Taylor and others.
Pattis said the legal team would “address the issues in the bond revocation motion, including the claim that there is inadequate security to hold the bond.”
Last week, White threatened to double the bond to $12 million after Fotis Dulos
was accused of removing items from a memorial set up for his estranged wife near his home.
According to arrest warrants, Jennifer Dulos was last seen on a neighbor’s security camera at 8:05 a.m. May 24, returning to her Welles Lane home after dropping off her children at a nearby school.
Police believe Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” and attacked her in the garage, the warrants indicate.
Dulos and his former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, were caught on video that night in Hartford dumping bags that were later determined to contain Jennifer Dulos’ blood and clothing, according to arrest warrants.
Jennifer Dulos’ blood was also found on the seat of a pickup truck belonging to an employee of Fotis Dulos, according to arrest warrants. Police say Fotis Dulos used the truck on the day his wife was killed, arrest warrants said.
Like Dulos, Troconis, 45, was charged last year with two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.
Troconis and Dulos’ close friend and former lawyer, Kent Mawhinney, 54, were each charged this month with conspiracy to commit murder. Police said they helped Fotis Dulos try to cover up the killing, including by creating bogus alibis.