Cop Probed On Immigrant Harassment

The police have launched an internal investigation into another complaint involving a cop who had sex with a woman in Fair Haven whom he met on the job.

The officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The investigation involves potential violations of department policy as well as potential criminal violations.

This case is not believed to have any connection to a separate recent case involving former Officer Gary Gamarra,. Gamarra resigned after admitting having sex with Fair Haven prostitutes, who said he raped them and threatened them with arrest.

The new case stems from a complaint several weeks ago by a 19-year-old woman who came to Fair Haven from Latin America as an undocumented immigrant. The case began when the woman phoned the police seeking help.

The patrol officer in question was called in to translate from Spanish into English when the woman made the complaint, according to three people in law enforcement who are familiar with the allegations.

At a later date, the woman called the police to make a new complaint, according to people familiar with the allegations: She said the officer had subsequently contacted her, and they began an allegedly consensual relationship. Then, she said, she tried to break it off. The officer allegedly kept contacting her, and she was seeking to have that stop.

Reached by the Independent, the officer, graduated from the police academy in 2019, declined comment. (The Independent has a policy of not naming people accused of potential criminal misconduct unless there is a pressing immediate threat to public safety; we have their side of the story; we have corroborating evidence of the allegation; or the allegation has been adjudicated in court or been the subject of a completed internal investigation.)

As usual with pending investigations, law enforcement officials are hesitant to divulge many details of the allegations.

Acting Chief Renee Dominguez told the Independent Wednesday she has no comment ​“as it is an open investigation.”

Patrol Commander Lt. Mark O’Neil wrote a memo to 38 members of the department informing them that the officer had been placed on paid administrative leave and ​“is not allowed in the building unless he is here to speak to Union representation or conduct business at the Credit Union. Either of these cases [he] will be escorted while inside the building. At no time should he be allowed unescorted in the building.”

Immigrant-rights advocate Kica Matos — who as an organizer and then a city official oversaw the crafting of policies aimed at building immigrants’ trust in cops and government in general — called the case ​“appalling.” She expressed concern that it could damage public safety by harming immigrants’ trust in law enforcement.

“This is a man who is supposed to serve and protect this community. The added vulnerability of an undocumented woman is even more appalling,” said Matos, who lives in Fair Haven.

“This is very typical of a type of abuse that undocumented women face all the time. This is an example of why immigrant communities and communities of color are wary of police,” she added. ​“In immigrant communities, so much is communicated through word of mouth. The end result is the undocumented community in New Haven will not trust local police. I wonder how many immigrant women will not call police because of this, because they’re afraid. Who’s going to be left to protect undocumented women?”

Meanwhile, the Gary Gamarra sex worker-rape case remains in the news. As the Independent reported in January, Gamarra is seeking to win his job back; the police union supports him. Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez is seeking to have Gamarra decertified as a police officer so he can’t get a job with any force in the state. Click here, here, and here to read the other previous Independent coverage of that case.