By John Nickerson
Staff Writer Article Launched: 08/27/2008 01:00:00 AM EDT
NORWALK - A Westport police detective testified at Sgt. Stephen Couture's police trial board Tuesday that she did not tell the 24-year department veteran in October that a criminal investigation of a former lieutenant under suspicion for having sex with a 15-year-old Weston boy had been dropped.
Couture is facing departmental charges - and possibly the end of his otherwise unblemished police career - for telling former Lt. Thomas Cummings, a close friend, that he was under investigation for having sex with the youth last Oct. 26.
During his more than two hours of testimony, which took place in City Hall's Community Room, Couture said that minutes after he became aware of the investigation that day he called Cummings for a meeting. They met in parking lot of American Legion Hall on County Street, across from Norwalk High School. Cummings at the time was head of the police department's Detective Bureau.
While on his way to the meeting, Couture said Senior Assistant State's Attorney Richard Colangelo called him briefly to talk about the investigation.
During a second call from Colangelo that Couture received while meeting with Cummings, the prosecutor directed him not to tell Chief Harry Rilling about the situation until later, Couture said.
Couture, who at the time was running the department's Youth Bureau, said he was angry at Cummings when they met.
Couture said Cummings, 45, who is openly gay, bragged to him and others in the department about his sexual exploits.
"I know he was very promiscuous and knew he liked young boys. When I say boys, I mean those of coed or college age," Couture said.
Couture said he warned Cummings earlier about having sex with a man who may say he is 18 or 19, but isn't and "you will ruin your life."
Cummings faces a maximum 115 years in jail for allegedly having sex with two other 15-year-old boys and trying to lure a third to his Dreamy Hollow condominium in Norwalk.
When Couture saw Cummings in the American Legion parking lot that Friday afternoon, Couture said, without repeating the expletives, "Tom, tell me this isn't true. How could you have possibly done that . . . and I am going to tell the chief on you."
When he told Cummings about the investigation, "Tommy looked to me like a man in shock," Couture said, adding that Cummings began pacing.
But Couture said he didn't tell Rilling about the investigation until the following Monday, when he was called into the chief's office with Colangelo. He also said he did not tell the chief and Colangelo until Monday that he had alerted Cummings three days earlier.
When Saranne Murray, the lawyer representing the city, asked why he told Cummings, Couture said that Westport Detective Jill Ruggiero, who had been investigating the case since Oct. 6, told him that she did not have a cooperative witness.
He said Ruggiero told him that the boy's mother did not want to get involved in a long investigation.
Without a witness, Couture said he thought that the criminal investigation had foundered and there would be only an internal police investigation of Cummings' conduct.
Couture said he believed it would be "appropriate" to tell Cummings he was in trouble with the department.
But Ruggiero, a seven-year member of the Westport police department, testified later Tuesday she never told Couture the criminal investigation was doomed.
Ruggiero said she was certain she told Youth Bureau detective Charles Perez and Couture that she had talked to Colangelo about approaching the investigation from a different angle that would not be as dependent upon the Weston boy.
"There are other avenues you can pursue, especially in a sex assault case. The victims often change their minds," she said.
Ruggiero said Couture later called her, attempting to persuade her to drop the Cummings investigation for the good of the department and to avoid national media attention.
Ruggiero said she replied the investigation was out of her hands and she refused Couture's request to send reports of the investigation to the Norwalk Detective Bureau, where she said Cummings could see them.
Couture maintained he was not trying to derail the investigation by contacting Cummings.
"It was absolutely never my intent to tip him off. Truth be told, there was nothing to tip him off to," Couture said.
No criminal charges have been filed against Cummings in connection with having sex with the Weston boy.
Murray, the city's lawyer, got Couture to acknowledge that after his 19-minute conversation with Ruggiero, the sergeant used a break room phone in the police department to call Cummings on his cell phone.
Asked why he didn't make the call from his own cell phone, Couture said he was thirsty after talking to the Westport detective and went into the break room to get a drink. There, he realized he had to call Cummings.
Couture's cell phone records were reviewed at Tuesday's hearing.
The city rested its case in the police board hearing Tuesday; defense testimony is expected to begin Sept. 3.
Couture testified with a large black eye suffered in a recent tennis match.
- Staff Writer John Nickerson can be reached at john.nickerson@scni.com or at 750-5307.