Affidavit: City employee sold drugs on the job

David Sarasin resigns from parks and recreation after arrest

TORRINGTON >> A recently arrested former Parks and Recreation Department employee both sold and used drugs while on the job, according to an affidavit seeking a warrant for his arrest.

David Sarasin, 49, of 73 Horace St., Torrington was arrested

Oct. 20 and charged with sale of prescription medication and sale of narcotics in a school zone.

He was arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into the theft of city-owned property, according to the Torrington Police Department.

He has since resigned from his position with the city, Mayor Elinor Carbone said Thursday, after a hearing at which he announced plans to do so effective immediately.

The affidavit related to Sarasin’s arrest was released Thursday at Bantam Superior Court.

Torrington police began investigating Sarasin after Carbone’s office received “numerous letters from an anonymous source,” and a detective was dispatched to investigate a larceny involving a Parks and Recreation employee, according to the affidavit.

“The letters detailed items being stolen like gas, tools and pool chemicals, but also detailed that other employees covered up the thefts,” police wrote in the affidavit. “Along with the thefts, it was reported Sarasin was selling prescription drugs while working as a city employee. The letters also named Superintendent of Streets Robert Lizotte as being involved and assisting in covering the issues up.”

Lizotte, who was arrested Oct. 12 on larceny charges, has since retired from his position. He is due back in court Nov. 4. One city employee told police he saw Sarasin take gas from the city garage numerous times and place city gas cans in his personal vehicle, according to the affidavit. The employee told police he reported this to his supervisors, but that the incidents continued.

The same employee told police he had seen Sarasin meet with people in the Parks Department parking lot on Oak Avenue numerous times, each time after taking a phone call, then walking to his truck.

The detective spoke with other employees who gave sworn statements saying they witnessed these brief incidents during the past several years.

The detective then spoke with a reported customer of Sarasin’s, who told police he would buy Vicodin and other pills from Sarasin, police said. The man turned over his phone and gave police the opportunity to look at text message exchanges, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit recounts text messages from Sarasin on two days in May 2016, saying things like“she will have tens this afternoon how many u need,” and then minutes later, “Ok I’ll call you when I got them.”

“(The individual) stated as his addiction progressed, he would buy pills on a weekly basis from Sarasin,” according to the affidavit. “(The individual) stated he had also purchased Suboxone strips from Sarasin, (and that) the majority of the transactions were on city property while Sarasin was working.”

Noted locations for these transactions were the Parks and Recreation garage, city ball parks or at the city pool on Winthrop Street, according to the affidavit.

Sarasin kept a list in his wallet with names of several people who owed him money, one person told police.

“(The individual) stated not only was he buying pills from Sarasin, he had also used the pills with Sarasin while (Sarasin) was working,” police wrote in the affidavit. “(The individual) stated he was present with Sarasin on numerous occasions at the City pool, City baseball fields and the Parks and Rec. garage, when he saw Sarasin crush and snort pills.”

When Sarasin was interviewed by a detective and a sergeant, he told police he had never stolen fuel or tools from the Parks Department, but that he has used the fuel cans and borrowed tools in the past, according to the affidavit. Sarasin told police he always returned what he borrowed.

Sarasin was then asked about the pool chemicals, and he told police he never took any pool chemicals from the city. He told police he has no reason to take chemicals and does not recall taking any chemicals to his house, according to the affidavit.

When police asked Sarasin about several of text messages involving phrases like “how many you want” and “30s for 20 I can go at lunch,” he confirmed the number was to his old cellphone but then said he did not know what the messages meant, according to the affidavit.

Sarasin later admitted to police he knew there were drug references in the text messages and also admitted to selling drugs while working for the Parks Department. He told police he has had a drug problem ever since an injury he sustained in 2005 and was prescribed oxycodone, according to the affidavit. However, he told police he never used any drugs while at work.

Both Major Besse Pool and Fussenich Park — two places Sarasin admitted to holding drug transactions — are near public schools, according to the affidavit.

“The investigation could not corroborate the reports that Sarasin was stealing gas and tools from the Parks Department,” wrote the departmental representative in the affidavit. “What was found through witness statements and through Sarasin’s own video and audio recorded admission, (is) that he was engaging in drug transactions while at work for the City of Torrington.”

Sarasin was released after posting a $25,000 courtset bond. He is scheduled to appear in Bantam Superior Court on Oct. 31.

David Sarasin