Shelton cop pleads not guilty, requests jury trial

BRIDGEPORT — A Shelton police officer pleaded not guilty Thursday to stalking the police chief.

David Moore, who had been fired by Shelton Police Chief Shawn Sequeira in 2020 and then recently ordered rehired by a state arbitration panel, pleaded not guilty to one count of third-degree stalking before Superior Court Judge Scott Jones.

Moore requested a jury trial. The judge continued the case to April 15.

Moore and his lawyer, John R. Gulash, declined comment as they left the Golden Hill Street courthouse. Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Craig Nowak also declined comment on the case.

Moore is accused of stalking Sequeira last August.

He is barred from carrying a gun because Judge Burns previously imposed a protective order on Moore as a condition of Moore’s continued release on a written promise to appear in court. Sequeira had previously obtained a civil protection order against Moore, court documents show.

Moore was one of three officers fired in 2020 over what Sequeira said was a mishandled domestic violence complaint. rehired by a state arbitration board. The other two officers also have gotten their jobs back. Moore conducted the internal investigation into the complaint and “knowingly and intentionally omitted vital information” to paint two fellow officers in a better light, Sequeira said at the time.

In a four-page affidavit seeking the order filed Sept. 25, 2023 in state Superior Court in Milford, Sequeira said Moore followed him in August from Route 8 in Shelton to a parking garage at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, where Sequeira teaches classes in criminal justice. In the affidavit, Sequeira said he had seen a vehicle following him for about a month, and that he saw it again while on his way to HCC. He said he tried to let the vehicle pass, but it stayed behind him, according to the affidavit.

According to Sequeira’s affidavit, the chief complained to state police about Moore following him. Sequeira, citing a follow-up conversation with state cops, said Moore admitted to state police that he was hiding in his vehicle in the parking garage, but said he was “conducting surveillance,” according to the affidavit.

The affidavit does not elaborate, but says Moore stalked Sequeira by recording cellphone video of the chief while he was working a traffic detail in 2020 and “has intentionally driven by past residences with his cellphone as he slowly watches me.”