Posted by Shore Publishing on Sep 25 2008, 03:12 PM
By Marianne Sullivan, Source Senior Staff Writer
Joseph Gambardella, the Madison police officer seen on video tape leaving Lenny & Joe’s restaurant with a bag filled with frozen seafood, avoided prison time and a trial when he pleaded no contest in New Haven Superior Court Sept. 15.
Judge Earl Richards accepted a plea agreement reached between Gambardella’s attorney, Hugh Keefe, and State’s Attorney David Strollo. Gambardella pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary and fourth-degree larceny and was sentenced to two years of a suspended sentence and two years probation.
He also agreed to pay restitution of $4,529.30, including $2,042 to Lenny & Joe's Fish Tale Restaurant, where he was videotaped taking seafood from the restaurant’s freezer; $1,500 to Beebe Marine, where he allegedly stole small equipment; and $987.30 to the town of Madison, where he was accused of using his police identification to steal gasoline from the town pumps.
Gambardella was a 15-year veteran of the Madison Police Department. He was suspended in January 2007 when the owner of Lenny & Joe’s appeared at Police Headquarters with a videotape. He was terminated on May 15, 2007, after a hearing before the Board of Police Commissioners. Several months later, following a department investigation, he was charged with larceny for thefts at the marina and the town fuel pumps.
With a felony conviction on his record, Gambardella will not be able to work again as a police officer in Connecticut.
Gambardella’s suspension, termination, and conviction are unlikely to prevent him from receiving a pension from the town. Now age 50, Gambardella could begin collecting a pension at 55. For several years he had been among the highest paid town employees, collecting overtime and special duty assignments to increase his base pay.
First Selectman Al Goldberg said he did not know if Gambardella would be entitled to a town pension.
“I can’t answer that. I know he can apply at age 55, which would be five years from now. I think there will probably be a lot of questions at that time,” Goldberg said. “I do know that the damage he did to our Police Department is not in any way compensated by the restitution he was ordered to pay.”