New Haven Independent: Clergy "Exemption" Detailed

Clergy “Exemption” Detailed

by Melissa Bailey | April 22, 2008 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

The state marshal at the center of a city towing scandal, newly removed from a similar job in North Haven, said he makes a special exemption for clergy when deciding whether to tow a car.

State Marshal Peter Criscuolo spoke more at length Wednesday about an April 10 incident, for which he was reprimanded by the city for letting a politically connected reverend get off the hook from having his car towed.

The incident set off a round of inquiries into how equitably the towing industry is conducting city business. A wave of scrutiny has spread to other towns:

• This week, Milford kicked a towing operator off its city towing list for allegedly double-dipping in city towing contracts by setting up two supposedly independent towing companies under the same owner. (Click here for a Register account.) New Haven City Hall attorneys are currently preparing an opinion on whether the same owner, Anthony Monaco, is guilty of double-dipping in New Haven, too. Click here to read about that.

• North Haven has removed Peter Criscuolo from doing city tax collection work. Criscuolo, who’s also a fire commissioner and Democratic Town Chairman in North Haven, agreed to step down from serving tax warrants in that town because of the appearance of conflict of interest, the Register reported today.

• And in response to an Independent inquiry, New Haven’s mayoral spokeswoman revealed Criscuolo was suspended from doing towing work for allegedly yelling at a woman in 2006 — though the city has no written record of the incident.

The above revelations come just days before New Haven city staff prepare to brief the mayor on results of an internal probe into the city’s license-scanning program. The Plate Hunter towing program, which scans license plates and tows cars with overdue taxes or parking tickets, has been put on hold while officials investigate.

A Clergy Exemption

Meanwhile, one of the key players at the center of the towing scandal, Criscuolo, gave the Independent a more in-depth account of the incident that sparked the probe.

Criscuolo came under public scrutiny on April 11, when the Independent reported he had let a politically connected reverend off the hook while towing scofflaw’s cars for the city. Rev. Boise Kimber, pastor of the First Calvary Baptist Church, is a city fire commissioner and political vote-getter for the mayor. Criscuolo was in the middle of towing Kimber’s GMC Yukon SUV when Kimber came out of State Street’s Portofino’s Restaurant and Bar and protested. For letting Kimber escape the towing clutches, Criscuolo was given a verbal reprimand; click here for a story detailing the incident.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Criscuolo expanded on the reasons behind the tow.

“The reason I let him off the hook,” Criscuolo said, was that Kimber claimed he didn’t really owe the $350 in parking tickets that city records asserted he owed on the SUV.

“He came out and explained to me that the tickets were received while he was on city business.” Criscuolo said. Then Kimber pointed to a sticker in his car.

“He showed me he had his credentials in his window as a clergyman,” Criscuolo said. “He indicated to me he was on church business.”

Why would being on “church business” exempt someone from having to pay parking tickets? Criscuolo said he didn’t know. Kimber told him he had accrued tickets, but “the traffic department was supposed to take care of the ones that were on official business.”

“I have no idea what kind of official business he was on,” Criscuolo admitted, but he accepted Kimber’s excuse. “There was reverends there from out of state, saying to me, ‘Don’t you believe him?’” the marshal said. “What am I going to say?”

Knowing he could find Kimber’s car the next day at the church, and not wanting to accuse a “man of the cloth” of lying, Criscuolo agreed to let him go, according to his story. He got behind the wheels of Kimber’s SUV and drove it back to the parking lot.

“I would do that for a priest, I would do it for a rabbi — any man of the cloth,” Criscuolo said. “The reverend seemed very sincere that there could have been a mistake, and why put him through all of this if there was a mistake.”

The next day, the director of the city traffic and parking department gave Criscuolo a verbal reprimand for overriding a direction from traffic and parking headquarters and refusing to tow the car. Criscuolo said in retrospect, he is sorry for what he did:

“They’re telling me I should have taken the car. I didn’t want to take the car for no reason, but if they claimed I made a mistake, I made a mistake. And I apologize for that.”

He maintained there was no favoritism in the tow: “It wasn’t for political reasons, it wasn’t for political friendship, it was simply a field call that I thought was right. It was an honest mistake,” he said. Criscuolo said he has an “impeccable record” in his 26 years of being a sheriff and state marshal.

“I’ve never had a problem,” the marshal said. “This is the first incident that came up.”

Not The First Time

The city claims, however, that the marshal has been reprimanded before for stepping out of line while towing cars. City spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga detailed a previous offense:

In February of 2006, Criscuolo was executing tax warrants as part of the BootFinder program (the precursor to Plate Hunter) when he came across a car on Pardee Street in the Annex neighborhood.

A woman protested the tow, Mayorga said. Then a “verbal confrontation” arose.

“Because of the verbal confrontation, there was a reprimand,” said Mayorga. Criscuolo was suspended from doing towing work, she said.

Criscuolo denied being suspended for the incident or yelling at the woman. He said the woman was enraged because he had just towed her father’s car, so she got in her own car and drove the wrong way up a one-way street to try to intercept the towing trucks. “She was yelling and screaming,” Criscuolo said. “She almost smashed into us.”

Criscuolo maintained he didn’t yell back and was not reprimanded for the incident.

Mayorga said she did not know how long Criscuolo was suspended for, because there is no written report of the incident. Mayorga didn’t have any more details on the specifics of Criscuolo’s offense.

“All that we recall is that there was a verbal confrontation that involved taxpayers,” Mayorga said.

The North Haven Job

Criscuolo was booted this week from a job doing tax collection for the city of North Haven. Republicans in charge claimed it was a conflict of interest for him to keep his seat as Democratic town chairman while also being the recipient of a lucrative contract to serve tax warrants. For each tax warrant served, the state marshal gets 15 percent of the tax money owed. The town also gets a warrant fee.

Keeping both jobs “is definitely not a conflict of interest,” Criscuolo maintained. “Taxpayers don’t pay me. Municipalities don’t pay me. Deadbeat taxpayers pay me.”

“Do you think I should be punished for volunteering to be town chairman?” he asked. “I feel that the Republicans are desperate and they’re grasping at any straw they can get.”

Criscuolo, who’s in his late fifties, said he’s been doing marshal/sherriff work for New Haven off and on for 26 years. He believes he should continue to keep the New Haven job. “I’ve never done anything illegal in my life. I’ve never done anything immoral in my life, personally or in my job. Have I made some mistakes as a judgment call? Sure I have. I have an eraser on my pencil just like everyone else.”

Six Complaints

Criscuolo is one of four marshals the city hires for the lucrative work of accompanying towing companies on their Plate Hunter rounds. All four live out of town; tow are Democratic town chairmen.

Marshals are regulated by the State Marshal Commission. The commission has received six complaints about Criscuolo since 2000, according to staff attorney Elizabeth Collins. All six were dismissed.

Eight complaints have been received and dismissed about Marshal Jerry Juliano, she wrote in response to an Independent request for information. “There are 3 additional matters… but the files cannot be located,” she wrote.

Seven complaints were filed, and dismissed, concerned Marshal Andrew Esposito III; four others went to hearings, with two resulting in reprimands so far, according to Collins. One complaint was filed, and dismissed, concerning Marshal Mark DeAngelis.

Previous coverage of New Haven’s towing industry:

New Towing Probe Sought

$200 For 4 Hours

Towing Program Halted

Kimber Gets Off The (Towing) Hook

“We’re Not Double-Dipping”

Alvin Goes For The Chevy

Towing Co. Ducks Tax Bill

Comments

Posted by: What? | April 22, 2008 2:34 PM

Has he ever heard of "separation of church and state"? Does anyone really believe his story/excuse?

Melissa, good story, but please expand it to include New Haven's Democratic town chair, and how much money she makes from the city. And maybe you could include the previous town chair, who made a boatload of money.

Posted by: Ned | April 22, 2008 2:45 PM

Religion is the biggest scam going. Is it any wonder that these SOB's and politicians are joined at the hip.

Posted by: tired of it | April 22, 2008 3:18 PM

I do not know what official business, Kimber could be on that would allow him to park in illegal spots. Unless he was stealing money from some poor old person for their funeral expenses. How he is even a Fire commisioner still baffles me. Criscuolo should have towed the car like he does for every other person. This goes to show you how corrupt the system is and will remain, unless there are some checks and balances put in place. Like getting rid of the State Marshal who performs this work.
This process boils down to legalized extortion anyway.

Posted by: outtaorder | April 22, 2008 3:22 PM

I call BS on this one. Albeit a good attempt at justification. The fact that the Rev. might have raised a clergy exemption is no excuse. If you are contracted for this type of work, you ought to know the rules.

The # of complaints against these marshals seem suprisingly low - considering their line of work.

Posted by: James | April 22, 2008 3:26 PM

Sounds like a sincere explanation. Would he have done the same for me? Probably not. Would he have done the same for me if I were a man of the cloth surrounded by 30 other men of the cloth? Possibly. I'm not doubting that Kimber has and will continue to suckle at the patronage teat, but Criscuolo seems contrite enough. I would hate to see somebody lose their job simply because the crowd demands blood. Then again, maybe he's crooked.

Posted by: walt bradley | April 22, 2008 4:12 PM

As a member of the FREE press (Citizens Television) I too have been ticketed numerous times while on press related business downtown. Covering the Board of Aldermen, Festivals, Protests and such. Like the "good" reverend, i too have a sticker in my winshield, one issued by the police department of the city of new haven. Well, it's not a sticker, it's a laminated placard that reads in big letters "PRESS". Of course my very important looking piece of paper is nothing more than a piece of paper now that Mr. Personality / Vote Kidnapper / Parking Guru Brian McGrath has decided that press parking passes don't exist, and has actually encouraged ticketing of vehicles with these "passes" (you can probably read archived stories in the NHI about this).
Our first amendment protects Rev. Kimber's right to religiion and MY right to promote free speach.
Although our Constitution doesn't actually use the phrase "seperation of church and state" (president Thomas Jefferson did use the phrase "building a wall of separation between church and state) it's generally understood that the two instutions are not to interfere with one another. Crisculo has decided he alone has the authority to spare "men of the cloth" on no other authority but his own. But would he spare my 63 year old unemployed mom and her two door hundai, or my Cousin and her daugheter as her Saturn were being readied for tow? Neither of them have ever work for, or attended fundraisers for Destefano, therefore i suppose they'd be find themselves in a MetroTaxi headed to the outskirts of town to retrieve their modest vehicles within minutes of pleading with this guy.
He (Crisculo) needs to go, the entire system needs to be changed - from the mayor to the marshals to the tow companies. It's been a rotten system for years, and now thanks in large part to the Independent's team (thank you) it's been exposed as the scam we all knew it was. I hope to see more coverage of New Haven's parking / towing charade. I think I speak for most of us who've been bamboozled by our local government and the mercanary tow companies in cahoots when i say i am absolutely reveling in the administration's embarrasment, and hope a much fairer system, with citizen (read as NOT mayoral appointees) oversite is put into place soon.

Posted by: Heights resident | April 22, 2008 5:02 PM

Wow, so by his accounts, all I have to do is get a following, maybe an online degree in Theology and I can skip paying taxes!!!!

Sounds good, maybe while I'm at it, I can steal money from my pershioners and get it away from it, as long as I bring in a few votes for the mayor. Hell the mayor would be so happy maybe he will appoint me a commishioner of the fire department, or even better my daddy could use some influence and I could be the chief of police

Posted by: Webblog 1 | April 22, 2008 6:46 PM

Crisculo took it upon himself to declare Kimber exempt from tow even after being told by Piscetilli.."We gave authorization to tow that car".

The record is clear, Crisculo was insubordinate and should be removed from serving warrants in New Haven.

Kimber told Crisculo he received the tickets while on official city business. The ticket date and time of issue should bear out this claim.

Kimber, is a fire commissioner and a official of the city, as such, he is obligated to respond to these claims. If he does not respond satisfactorily, he should be removed as Fire commissioner as well.

Posted by: Bishop Baloney | April 22, 2008 7:26 PM

It took him a week to make up the weakest of excuses for not tagging Kimber. If your that dumb you must need Destefanos support to get by. No one has asked how the Rev Kimber was doing his good works in Portofinos. Not exactly the haunt of the meek, is it.

Posted by: in the hood | April 23, 2008 12:00 AM

This guy sounds so sad and pathetic..I have to admit that if I was surrounded by several "reverands from out of state"...I would probably release the car as well.

Posted by: Joe McEwen | April 23, 2008 6:41 AM

Google [Criscuolo] and you will find that (1) he was a fundraiser for DeStefano's gubernatorial campaign; (2) he is Democratic Town Committee Chairman in North Haven, and a Fire Commissioner; (3) being a pal of DeStefano and a Fire Commissioner, it's not believable that he didn't know who Kimber was; (4) Criscuolo acts morally superior but if you talk to people in North Haven, you will hear quite a bit to the contrary. Nothing less than a full investigation into this guy by New Haven and North Haven officials is warranted. As a matter of fact, if anyone knows how to research court records, maybe that would be a good place to start.

Posted by: realdeal | April 23, 2008 7:35 AM

Mr. Criscoulo is creating a bad image (or worse) for the democratic party. The mayor, for the sake of the democratic party must set an example with this marshall. It would appear very self-centered for the mayor not too do anything with this marshall especially since the marshall is one of his greatest campaign fundraisers.

Posted by: sarah m | April 23, 2008 8:50 AM

Paul & Melissa Thank you for your indepth coverage of issues the other media outlets don't bother to cover (until of course you guys dig up some truth and lay the groundwork) and I also thank CTV (your programs on both towing and getting the elm city i.d. cards were funny and informative) its good to see Rupert Murdoch hasn't bought all of the News.
What i'd like to say is that my Uncle is an ordained Minister who lives in New Haven, and also has a sticker in his winshield that identifies him as clergy. Like most of us here in New Haven, he's gotten parking tickets from expired meters while at functions, or meeting with a family. We spoke about this last night and he told me he paid the parking tickets within a day or two because it was the correct thing to do. Can you imagine that, a man of the cloth who isn't perfect, and acknowledges that, and chooses to pay pennance?
I don't see any comments on this issure from other clergy, but i'd be interested in their take.
thank you.

Posted by: jt | April 23, 2008 9:38 AM

I would much rather have someone Criscuolo make a judgement call and have it be wrong, than someone who won't even take the time to listen.

Posted by: Your Tax Dollars at Work | April 23, 2008 10:48 AM

If the Rev. got rid of that super gas guzzler his parishioners provide him & purchased a hybrid vehicle, he would be exempt from parking tickets.

As I recall, the City used to provide the Mayor with a Navigator, which, when he was running for gov, he turned in for a Prius -- not to save money on parking tickets (because I suspect he doesn't get any) -- but for PR purposes.

Come to think of it the Rev could use some good PR.

Would also like to hear from other clergy about this moral question: Should clergy be entitled to exemptions from ordinances applying to all citizens especially when those exemptions are not specifically written in to the law?

Posted by: bugupit | April 23, 2008 10:16 PM

Paul, at the Advocate, you used to identify a story, research and prepare it, then "break" it to the public. But NHI is all reaction. Don't you miss digging? Tell us all you know and more about Boise and John.

Posted by: joey | April 24, 2008 7:08 AM

Mr. bradley it would be hard for any inteligent person to believe that every entity of the citys towing program are corrupt. I caan agree that the marshall and some of the city officails are but to believe that all involved are is just nieve.

Posted by: walt bradley | April 24, 2008 8:19 AM

Mr Joey, please read my entire post. although i call the system "Rotten" and call for the release of Crisculo, and that the entire system needs to be changed and an oversight group needs to be put into place, i did not say "every entity of the city's towing program are (is) corrupt". I'm often incorrect myself, as you are here, but i do not think EVERY person associated with New haven's towing program is corrupt. I very much suspect there are some good folks in the administrative support rolls, and perhaps even a few drivers who are doing nothing more than making an honest wage. I do think however that the tow owners, the marshals, the people who call the shots on this program, and ultimately the mayor because the buck must stop with him - have A LOT of explaining to do to us, and must be held accountable. Their shennanagins have been screwing most of us, while a few of the chosen elite are allowed to do as they please knowing there are no reprocussions, and that brother Joey, in wrong.

Posted by: joey | April 24, 2008 12:30 PM

Mr Bradley,

Very well said, most will take your comment"He (Crisculo) needs to go, the entire system needs to be changed - from the mayor to the marshals to the tow companies." as the meaning that i described. you sir are The Free Press and you know that the way sentences are worded can make a powerful statment.

New Haven Independent

Clergy “Exemption” Detailed

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