A Waterbury police officer has been suspended after an independent investigation found he made false statements and violated department policies in relation to a department investigation into his political opponent.
An independent investigation of Sgt. Adrian Sanchez, a Waterbury police officer and Board of Aldermen member, found that Sanchez made false statements and directed an investigation in violation of department policies in connection with an August incident between his own political opponent and a friend, former state Rep. Victor Cuevas.
The internal affairs report, obtained by the Courant through a Freedom of Information request, found Sanchez’s actions pose a conflict of interest. The report found that Sanchez “invoked potential violations by superior officers of the Waterbury Police Duty Manual and the Hatch Act,” in regard to a social media post where he alleged that “on-duty police officers are being ordered by their superiors to perform political favors.”
After reviewing the internal affairs report, Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo convened a Loudermill hearing, which provides employees accused of policy violations a chance to defend themselves, before three union police officers.
“Based on the recommendations and based on the investigation and based on Sanchez’s past disciplinary record, I determined a 15-day suspension was appropriate,” Spagnolo said.
Sanchez is now grieving the suspension with the support of the Brass City Local, the local Waterbury Police Union.
“We filed a grievance and are going through the grievance process and fully supporting Sgt. Sanchez,” said Detective John Healey, president of the Brass City Local Waterbury Police Union.
Spagnolo said when he deliberated “there are absolutely in my mind questions about him serving as an officer, serving the community, serving in a supervisory role.
“But the reality is he is afforded union protection,” the chief said. “There is a progressive discipline process in place. I had lengthy conversations with the HR director and already this has been grieved by the union. It is difficult for me in this case because I do question whether he should be in a supervisory role and frankly in some ways a police officer. But I have to follow the guidelines and understand what the processes are and make sure we provide opportunities and we have historical background in case this behavior continues and we have to take further action.”
Sanchez said in an email that while he understands the public interest in this matter, “because it involves an internal personal investigation and a pending labor grievance I am not able to comment on the findings or details at this time.
“I will be addressing the matter through the appropriate contractual and legal processes,” he said.
Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski Jr. said the investigation was thorough and fair.
Violations cited
The report investigates Sanchez’s conduct on Aug. 22 relating to a police investigation into an incident in which Cuevas reportedly confronted and made homophobic comments to Efrain Torres, a former Republican Board of Aldermen candidate who ran against Sanchez.
Cuevas was arrested and charged with second-degree breach of peace by Waterbury Police Dec. 17 in connection with the incident. The incident was captured on a video that was widely circulated.
Waterbury State’s Attorney Maureen Platt determined the encounter with Torres was found to be a hate incident and did not rise to the level of a criminal violation, according to Spagnolo.
In video footage sent to the Courant, Torres, who was running in the 5th district, is seen on a video on Aug. 22 walking downtown by the Republican Town Committee’s headquarters when Cuevas confronts him asking him “What did you call me?” followed by expletives. He then proceeds to make derogatory comments with no response from Torres, except to say “See you later.”
Sanchez reported the incident while off duty and directed Officer Perla Cora to investigate the incident, according to the report, which cites that he violated policy by not reporting it to his commanding officer.
Miguel Escalera Jr., an attorney who was retained by the corporation counsel in Waterbury to conduct the independent investigation, wrote in his report that “Mr. Cuevas was actively supporting Sergeant Sanchez in his political campaign against Efrain Torres.”
“One can only imagine the negative news articles that would have been written about the Waterbury Police Department had the media been aware that Sergeant Sanchez, himself the political opponent of Mr. Torres, was undertaking to direct the investigation of the altercation on behalf of the Waterbury Police Department,” Escalera wrote in his report.
“Because of his conflict of interest, Sergeant Sanchez should have immediately taken steps to distance himself from the investigation of the altercation by reporting this unusual occurrence to his superiors and allowing them to direct the investigation,” the report continued. “I find by failing to report this matter to his superiors Sergeant Sanchez not only violated the Waterbury Police Duty Manual but also demonstrated extremely poor judgment.”
The report states that “Sanchez does not take responsibility for having done anything improper.”
“As such, Sergeant Sanchez’s poor judgment continues unabated,” the report states.
Spagnolo said in the last five years there have been four significant incidents of misconduct concerning Sanchez including the August incident that required disciplinary actions and weren’t disputed.
In 2018 he took a five-day suspension for violation of police policies after he was involved in an off-duty fight in the city, according to the chief.
In 2019 he worked an unauthorized off-duty job in the city where a domestic incident occurred, the chief said, also violating policies; he received a three-day suspension. And in April of this year, the chief said Sanchez launched an investigation into a medical incident involving a former police commissioner, violating police policies.
False statements
The report states that during an interview with Sanchez on Oct. 31, Sanchez asked Officer Perla Cora “very politely to investigate” the incident with Cuevas and Torres as a friend and that he had no intention to give her an order and that she could have refused to do what Sanchez asked, according to the report.
“I find that these statements by Sergeant Sanchez were false statements made in violation of the Waterbury Police Duty Manual,” Escalera said in his report. “I find that Sergeant Sanchez’s statements were a contrived attempt to avoid criticism for not contacting Officer Cora’s supervisor or his own superior officers.”
In an interview with Escalera, Cora said that she was “concerned that I not disobey the order from Sergeant Sanchez.
“I have never received an assignment from an off-duty sergeant before,” Cora said. “I felt the assignment from Sergeant Sanchez was an order. After I returned to the police station, I received a text from Sergeant Sanchez stating, ‘give me a call if you are around nobody.’”
Lt. David Knapp also questioned Sanchez’s actions, according to the report.
“Sergeant Sanchez had no authority to initiate an investigation while off duty,” Knapp said. “Sergeant Sanchez should have called communications and notified me since I was the shift commander.”
Sanchez said in his interview with Escalera that Cuevas had been assisting the Republican candidates for “election including me.”
“Mr. Cuevas has provided me advice, mentorship, education and direction,” Sanchez said, according to the report.
“In retrospect I should have had Victor Cuevas call Communications directly to report the altercation and request an officer be dispatched to take his report,” Sanchez said, according to the report. “However I maintain that I did not violate any policy in the Waterbury Police Duty Manual.”
He referred to Cuevas’ request to make a report about the altercation a “routine matter presented to an off-duty officer.”
Later in the interview, Sanchez said, “I believe I handled the situation the same way other officers do.”
Social media posts and politics
Sanchez’s social media posts online also initiated an investigation.
In a Facebook post on Aug. 6, Sanchez wrote, “Our city’s corruption scandal is beyond blatant. It’s straight up criminal.”
Sanchez said in the interview with Escalera that he had “no knowledge of any criminal conduct by any employee or government official in the city of Waterbury” and that he is not aware of any violation of “federal law perpetrated by any employee or government official in the city of Waterbury.”
He added that he was not aware of any criminal conduct or violation of federal law by any member of the Waterbury Police Department.
“My intention was to refer readers to the podcast hosted by Dawn Maiorano, Republican Town Committee Chairwoman, and Steve Pedbereznak, a retired police officer known as the Brass City Beat, and the comments they were making on the podcast,” Sanchez said.
In another post on Aug. 8, Sanchez wrote: “That’s why it’s incredibly disappointing to see the current elected Democrats drag PAL (Police Activity League) into questionable and potentially illegal political activity.
“It is not meant to be used as a political tool, especially when on-duty police officers are being ordered by their superiors to perform political favors,” Sanchez continues in his post.
In the interview with Escalera, Sanchez acknowledges that he has no knowledge of “any criminal conduct by PAL.”
“I have no knowledge of any Democrats dragging PAL into potentially illegal activity,” Sanchez continued. “I have no knowledge of any Waterbury police officers being ordered to perform political favors.”
He explained further that when he wrote the post he “mistakenly believed that PAL had provided tables and chairs and tables to the Democratic Town Committee without charge.”
“I have since learned that PAL rented the tables and chairs to the Democratic Town Committee as it has rented tables and chairs to various organizations,” he added.
Maiorano said in an email that what happened to Cuevas and Sanchez “raises serious concerns about the weaponization of the Waterbury Police Department against individuals who do not align with the administration’s politics, perspectives or way of conducting business.”
Escalera writes that he finds that Sanchez’s “allegation that Waterbury police superiors are ordering police officers to perform political favors while on duty undermines the public trust in the department and is likely to disrupt police operations.”
He further said the allegation would “tend to cause the public to question whether the law in Waterbury will be administered fairly without regard to political affiliation and would tend to impugn the integrity of the Waterbury Police Department.”
“I am not aware of any criminal conduct that is occurring in the police department or any agency,” Spagnolo said.