Court papers: Fotis Dulos can’t afford electricity or heat at home

NEW CANAAN — Fotis Dulos put up more than $400,000 to bail himself out of jail, but he cannot pay for electricity or heat at his Sturbridge Hill Road home under foreclosure, according to a sworn affidavit filed by a bank executive.

The Savings Bank of Danbury wants a judge to put the home into receivership. The bank foreclosed on the home in late 2019 after Fotis Dulos failed to make payments on the $2.7 million mortgage.

The 7,000-square-foot home was part of the Jennifer Dulos investigation after neighbors reported hear

ing loud bangs coming from the property the morning after the May 24 disappearance. Nothing connected to the disappearance was found on the property, according to search warrants unsealed last week.

Fotis Dulos and his highend real estate company, Fore Group, were developing the property at 61 Sturbridge Hill Road for sale when his estranged wife disappeared.

Fotis Dulos, 52, is now on house arrest, confined to his Farmington property, after being charged this month with murder, felony murder and first-degree kidnapping. He was previously charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.

“Mr. Dulos has been charged with murder and is presently under house arrest and cannot leave his Farmington home without court approval,” Nicholas Gazetos, executive vice president of the Savings Bank of Danbury, said in a sworn affidavit Friday supporting the receivership.

“Mr. Dulos is unable to maintain the premises while under house arrest. Furthermore, Mr. Dulos has informed the bank that he does not have sufficient funds to maintain the premises and pay for such things as snow plowing and lawn maintenance.”

Fotis Dulos has also asked the bank to pay utilities to keep the electricity and heat on, the court documents said. So far, he has not received any money from the Savings Bank of Danbury to maintain the utilities, the documents said.

The house is on the market for $3.9 million, but Fotis Dulos owes more than $4.5 million on the property, including a $500,000 loan from his Greek business associate Ioannis Toutziardis, a $600,000 loan from his friend Harry Masiello and a $500,000 attachment to the home by his mother-in-law Gloria Farber, who is suing him for $2.5 million, court documents said.

Farber is also foreclosing on the 14,000-square-foot Farmington home built by the Fore Group in 2012 where Fotis Dulos is now under house arrest.

The bank wants a judge to name Luigi D’Acunto, of DBI Development of Norwalk, as the receiver who will make sure the property is maintained and the utility bills are paid so pipes don’t burst and lower the value of the home, court documents said.

The bank is also considering installing a security system to keep an eye on the property, Gazetos said. There is also a $15,662 real estate tax payment due this month to the town of New Canaan that Fotis Dulos cannot pay, the bank said.

Under the appointment of a receiver, Fotis Dulos could still market the property for sale and preserve its value, the court documents said.

Fotis Dulos can only leave his Farmington home for court appearances, church or court-approved business activities after posting more than $400,000 of a $6 million bond on the murder charges.

Fotis Dulos’ former girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, 45, is also released on house arrest, charged with conspiracy to commit murder, tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution. His close friend and former attorney, Kent Mawhinney, 54, remains jailed on $2 million after being charged this month with conspiracy to commit murder.

New Canaan police investigating a missing persons report filed May 24 found blood stains and splatter in the garage of Jennifer Dulos’ Welles Lane home, arrest warrants said.

Police believe Fotis Dulos was “lying in wait” at her home that morning as she was dropping off their five children at school, arrest warrants said. Police later discovered videos of Troconis and Fotis Dulos dumping garbage bags in trash bins along Albany Avenue in Hartford that night, the warrants said.

The bags, which police retrieved one week later, contained items stained with the blood of Jennifer Dulos, arrest warrants said.

In the latest arrest warrants, Chief State Medical Examiner James Gill described Jennifer Dulos’ death as a “homicide of violence” that likely included traumatic bluntforce injuries such as bludgeoning and stabbing.

The warrant describes Jennifer Dulos being bound with zip ties during the alleged attack. Four ties were used, the warrant states, and two were found with her blood on them.

“It appears the zip ties were used to secure and incapacitate Jennifer Dulos,” the warrant reads. “It is reasonable that Jennifer Dulos was alive at the time the zip ties were attached to restrain her movements and to prevent her escape.”

Fotis Dulos will be back in state Superior Court in Stamford on Wednesday when his attorney plans to request a probable cause hearing.