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Hartford Officer Found Guilty - Hartford Courant 8/4/11 3:39 PM

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Related Articles October 28, 2000 | By JOSH KOVNER; Courant Staff Writer 0 0 StumbleUpon Hartford Police Inquiry Expands Hartford police Officer Salvatore Gallo left his patrol car behind in 1998 and Submit April 9, 1999 took a job as the department's peer counselor, helping other cops deal with Corruption Probe Raises Question Of Ethics, personal problems. Community... It was this mission that took him to the arraignments in April 1999 of a couple of the Hartford officers indicted in on- October 31, 1994 duty sexual crimes in a federal corruption probe. He sat next to the shaken father of one of the officers and spoke Charges Leveled Against Fifth Hartford Officer soothingly to him. By most accounts, Gallo was a good fit for the counselor's role. June 11, 1999

City Man Is Facing New Drug Charges A federal jury found Friday that the kid from Hartford's South Catholic High was harboring a dark secret. May 12, 1995 The jury, after a four-day trial in Hartford, found Gallo guilty of twice sexually assaulting Latoya Laney Grasser, 27, City Police Car Seized, Searched In Corruption in his police cruiser under an I-91 overpass in the fall of 1996 and early 1997. Probe The jury deliberated about two hours, including a lunch period. January 20, 1999 Gallo had been indicted in June 1999 in the same federal corruption probe, a joint effort by Connecticut-based FBI agents, inspectors with the chief state's attorney's office and Hartford police Sgt. John Betz and Det. Terry Blair.

The results so far have been highly efficient: Six of the seven officers arrested have already been convicted in federal court. The seventh is being held without bail, awaiting trial.

In contrast, a state corruption probe resulting in the arrests in 1993 and 1994 of five Hartford officers, two New Britain officers and a state police officer on various drug, larceny and perjury charges has had mixed results.

With fewer resources and beholden to a far more crowded court system, some of the state cases have taken five years to resolve. In two of those cases, the officers were acquitted.

In the federal case, four of the officers pleaded guilty; Gallo and Sgt. Albert Beauchamp were convicted after trials.

A total of 11 women are involved in the allegations against the seven officers. Grasser, a self-described drug addict and prostitute, figures in the indictments of four of the officers.

She testified this week in U.S. District Court in Hartford that during the first of the two attacks, a uniformed Gallo ordered her to perform intercourse. She said he abandoned it and demanded she resume oral sex after the cruiser's front seat proved too cramped.

Gallo, 43, was haunted during his trial by statements attributed to him during an interview with investigators in April 1999. It was then that he was first told that a woman -- Grasser -- had made a complaint against him.

``I never used a gun,'' a frightened Gallo had told the investigators, according to court documents. ``Can I get a misdemeanor like Sal (Abbatiello, one of the other indicted officers)?''

On the witness stand, Gallo denied those statements. He portrayed the interview as a chilling interrogation during which he said he strenuously asserted his innocence.

He said one of the investigators put his hand to his temple in the shape of a gun and slowly shook his head as if he was telling Gallo not to commit suicide, while the other whispered to Gallo that he faced years in prison.

His account put Gallo in an untenable position.

Under questioning from prosecutor James I. Glasser, a supervisory assistant U.S. attorney, Gallo was forced to call each of the three investigators and the victim liars.

When sentenced Jan. 10, Gallo faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for violating Grasser's right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. He also faces a second trial on an earlier charge of perjury.

He remains free on a $50,000 bond, co-signed by his wife, Maria Gallo. He has been suspended without pay from the police department since his arrest. His conviction means he will be fired after 15 years on the job.

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