Thomas Breen photo
Arrested Officer Christopher Troche and attorney Rosemarie Paine in state court Wednesday.
A New Haven police officer who was arrested for allegedly pressuring an undocumented 19-year-old Honduran immigrant to send him nude photographs and have sex with him in exchange for money entered a pro forma not guilty plea Wednesday — as state prosecutors and the officer’s defense attorney prepare to review a trove of evidence provided by the city police department.
That’s the latest development in the ongoing criminal case of 31-year-old New Haven Police Officer Christopher Troche.
Standing alongside his attorney Rosemarie Paine Wednesday morning, Troche entered the pro forma not guilty plea during a brief hearing in a third-floor courtroom at the state court building at 121 Elm St.
State Superior Court Judge Philip Scarpellino explained that “the purpose” of Troche’s pro forma not guilty plea “is just that we move along the docket, and get to discuss [the case in greater detail] on the next court date.” The judge then set that next court date in the case for Feb. 28.
Supervisory State’s Attorney David Strollo: State has received "a large volume" of evidence to review.
That should give both the state and the defense roughly four weeks to review what Supervisory State’s Attorney David Strollo described on Wednesday as “a large volume of paper and digital media.” He said the state received that wealth of discovery — or evidence — in the case from the city police department on Tuesday.
“I told [the NHPD] I needed everything involving this case,” Strollo told the judge. “They assured me that’s what they sent.”
Neither Troche, Paine, nor Strollo spoke Wednesday in regards to the contents of that discovery or the substance of the underlying case. Paine did tell the Independent in December that she believes her client is innocent of the charge he is facing: that is, one misdemeanor count of soliciting a prostitute.
The case itself dates back to last January, when — according to an unsealed arrest warrant affidavit — Troche responded to an unrelated call to the police for help by a 19-year-old undocumented immigrant living in Fair Haven.
That woman told police that Troche promptly contacted her after that initial call for help, got her drunk, had sex with her at his downtown home, and paid her $100 in cash.
She also told police investigators that Troche was one of five New Haven police officers she had sexual relationships with during her time in Fair Haven, including recently resigned and de-certified former New Haven cop Gary Gamarra.
The misdemeanor charge of soliciting a prostitute, meanwhile, stems from the victim’s and police investigators’ allegations that Troche spent months pressuring this young woman by text message to send him nude photographs and have sex with him again in exchange for money. (The section of the law invoked does not involve dealings with an actual prostitute, but rather the offer of money for sex.)
According to that same arrest warrant affidavit, Troche denied that he committed any criminal acts.
Click here to read more about those allegations.
Troche, who has worked for the NHPD since 2018, has been on paid administrative leave since April. He was arrested in this case in November.
