Copyright 2005 MediaNews Group, Inc.
Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
By ANNE M. AMATO
SEYMOUR, Conn. — Just one day after applying for arrest warrants in the criminal investigation of the Seymour Ambulance Association financial scandal, the police captain in charge of the case asked for all documents to be returned to his office.
On Wednesday, Police Capt. Paul M. Beres said paperwork for the warrants had been delivered to Milford Superior Court.
“I have requested the return of all documents this department submitted to the state’s attorney’s office regarding the Seymour Ambulance Association investigation,” Beres said in a news release Thursday. “After closer review of the entire case file, I determined the submission of affidavits at this time was premature. “It will be in the best interest of the investigation to consolidate all questionable acts into a single warrant.”
Inspector Peter Fearon of the court prosecutor’s office said the request is not unusual.
“It happens,” he said. “There could be any one of a million reasons they are asking that the documents be returned. It can run the gamut from something as small as a spelling error to who knows what.”
The ambulance corps has been under scrutiny for nearly a year since Frank Marcucio, the association’s chief at the time, and his wife, June, the finance director, resigned under fire.
The couple stepped down in January after state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal charged that Frank Marcucio spent thousands in ambulance association funds on questionable expenses.
The matter was turned over to Seymour police this summer for a criminal investigation, with Beres leading the probe.
He could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Marcucio has referred all questions to Hugh Keefe, his New Haven attorney; Keefe would not comment.
Blumenthal’s civil investigation, which focused on Marcucio, found more than $47,000 in undocumented or questionable charges to the association’s credit cards between 1997 and 2003, when Marcucio was in charge of the corps.
This included about $27,000 in travel, lodging and cruise expenses for Marcucio and his family and other association members.
Also included were charges to an Internet dating service, a former Seymour adult novelties and lingerie store, and a body-jewelry Web site.