Zach Lowe
Staff Writer
August 6, 2007
STAMFORD -- In a jailhouse interview this year, a confidential informant accused a Stamford officer of buying stolen grills, leaf blowers and power tools from him for 75 percent off retail value, an internal affairs report shows.
The officer, Joseph Rainone, a 21-year veteran of the department, faces termination at a hearing tonight after internal affairs investigators concluded he knew or should have known the property was stolen, the report shows.
"It was not a hard sell to say that it was almost as though Officer Joseph Rainone was running an ongoing enterprise facilitating the purchases of stolen merchandise," according to the report, which The Advocate obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
It is unclear how many deals Rainone allegedly made with the informant, a drug user and convicted felon who has helped police in more than 100 drug investigations in the last 10 years, the report shows.
"The deals kept coming, and (the informant) was asked to buy and continued to buy more grills," the internal affairs report says.
Rainone denied the charges in an interview with internal affairs, the report shows. He said the informant was a family friend who purchased the items legally at discount prices through a contact at a hardware store.
He turned over the items to investigators and is fighting to keep his job, officials have said.
The informant, whose name is blacked out in the report obtained by The Advocate, said he contacted investigators about Rainone and two other officers because he felt Rainone "betrayed him."
Those two other officers have been suspended; the informant told investigators they were "dupes" for whom Rainone arranged discount buys.
The officers, Robert Macari and David Gladstone, are not appealing their suspensions, officials said Monday.
The department considered pursuing criminal charges against Rainone but decided to discipline him internally instead, Police Chief Brent Larrabee said Monday.
Larrabee recommended Rainone's termination after reading the internal affairs report, he said Monday.
The Police Commission will decide whether to approve the chief's recommendation after hearing evidence from both sides Monday night.
Rainone's attorney, Robert Gulash of Bridgeport, did not return a call seeking comment Monday.
The informant claimed Rainone promised to supply a television for his prison cell and money for his prison spending account after he was incarcerated sometime after last spring.
Rainone also vowed to make sure someone shoveled the informant's mother's driveway when it snowed, the report says.
When Rainone didn't deliver, the informant contacted Stamford police.
He said the alleged purchases started when Rainone bought a Stihl leaf blower worth $600 for $250.
The informant then allegedly sold Rainone a Weber grill worth $600 for $250 and another worth $1100 for $600.
The informant may have purchased the goods with a stolen credit card, the report shows. It is unclear where the informant purchased the items.
Rainone set up one deal for Gladstone and overcharged him by $100 to cover a debt he owed the informant, records show.
It was the only deal Gladstone participated in, the informant claimed. The report does not mention Macari.
Macari, a patrol officer with less than five years on the job, was suspended for 45 days.
Gladstone, a 28-year veteran who specializes in dealing with abandoned cars, was suspended for 30 days.
Investigators believed the informant because he knew specific details of the sales and never wavered from his original story.
"He described each and every aspect with such detail and intimate knowledge that only a person deeply involved would be privy to know," the report concluded. The informant predicted Rainone would tell investigators his wife purchased the first grill.
Rainone said his wife ordered the first grill from the informant when police interviewed him in June, the report shows.
Rainone must answer all questions put to him at the Police Commission hearing Monday, Larrabee said.
He could be fired for refusing to answer questions, the chief said.
He cannot invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination as he could in a criminal trial, the chief said.
Rainone could opt to have the hearing closed to the public under an exception to the state's Freedom of Information Act.
But he plans to keep the meeting open, said Officer Michael Merenda, the police union president.
Copyright © 2007, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.