Montville Police and Connecticut State Police provided the following arrest and charge information and conviction and court information was obtained through the state judiciary's database.
Over the course of the past three weeks, Montville Police have staged three sobriety checkpoints, the first of which saw a Montville Board of Education member stopped, arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
In total, there were 15 arrests including 12 for driving under the influence, with five of those being repeat offenders. And several large drug arrests made as a result of the stops, took substantial amounts of heroin off the street as well as crack cocaine.
“Yeah, I’d say this was a great success,” said Montville Police officer Robin Salvatore who has not only written the grants that help to fund the enforcement program, but she also organized the sobriety checkpoints.
Salvatore said that with the assistance and support from Norwich Police Chief Louis Fusaro Sr., and police officers from Waterford, Groton City and Town, Clinton, East Lyme and Norwich, the checkpoints were made possible and through a grant from the Connecticut Department of Transportation under 2012 Comprehensive DUI Enforcement funds. Montville Town Police received approximately $74,200 in grant funding in 2012.
"The checkpoints were very successful," Salvatore said. "We took a bunch of dangerous, intoxicated people off the road that could have injured or killed someone and removed illegal drugs from the streets."
Montville Officer Karen Moorehead, the School Resource Officer, worked the checkpoints and, while Patch was on scene, had a suspect perform a field sobriety check; the man was arrested.
"We get unsafe drivers and illegal drugs off of our streets ...the streets we all live on, drive on," she said. "We send a message to all that it will not be tolerated. It's simple: Over the limit, under arrest."
The arrests
August 24 Checkpoint
Ronald Sydor, 64, of 766 Rt. 163 was charged with driving under the influence. No other arrests, convictions, according to state database.
Damien Bartholomew, 32, of New London, was charged with sale of a controlled substance, possession of narcotics, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released on a $5,000 bail.
Juanita Gibbs, 56, of 49 Lambert St., Norwich was charged with driving under the influence, though according to a state database, the charges were changed to reckless driving. Gibbs is in pre-trial for charges of identity theft and larceny form 2010.
Phillip Taylor, 19, of 56 Chapel Hill Road, Oakdale and Matthew Ryan Bernier, 20, of 95 Depot Road in Uncasville were both arrested and charged after officers noted the “odor of marijuana” when the men were stopped at the checkpoint. Each was charged with possession of narcotics – heroin - and possession of narcotics with intent to sell and were initially held on $10,000 bail each; they’ve since posted and been released. According to the state database ,Taylor has a previous marijuana violation and Bernier has a sealed New Haven case.
If convicted of this charge, this will be the third DUI conviction for James Aberdeen, 42, of 2 McCauley Place, Uncasville. He was charged with driving under the influence following a stop at the sobriety checkpoint. He has two previous DUI convictions. He was released from custody on $500 bail; his court date is Oct. 3.
Montville BOE member Todd Pomazon, 56, of 90 Pequot Road, Uncasville was charged with driving under the influence following a stop at the Montville Police sobriety checkpoint. Pomazon, a member of the Montville Board of Education has since had his records statutorily sealed after agreeing to complete an alcohol education program.
August 31 Checkpoint
Mark Bajorek, 49, of 142 Maple Ave., #3, Montville was charged with driving under the influence.
Todd Benjamin, 44, of 170 Pleasure Hill Road in North Franklin was charged with driving under the influence. Stopped because he had no seatbelt, police determined he was intoxicated.
Shelly A. O’Neal-Kegler, 31, of Quaker Hill was charged with driving under the influence.
September 6 Checkpoint
Peter Flynn, 62, of 50 Mumford Cove Road, Noank was charged with driving under the influence. In the narrative, police wrote Flynn almost struck an officer at the checkpoint.
Richard B. Wetherell, 46, of 86 Summit St., Norwich was charged with driving under the influence. (There was confusion about tis individual, but Patch determined a 24-yer-old man with the same name, albeit as Wetherell IV, in two instances, has a number of charges pending including DUI, numerous moving violations and felony criminal mischief stemming from Town of Groton arrests in early August).
Robert Hislop, 38, of 562 Old Colchester Road, Montville was charged with driving under the influence.
Police charged Devon J. Brindle, 20, of 143 Crystal Lake Road, Groton, with driving under the influence, possession of alcohol by a minor and driving without a license.
Vincent McGuire, 42, of 4 McCulley Place, Montville was charged with possession of, driving under the influence of, marijuana.
Marcus A. Daniels, 25, of Waterbury was charged with possession of marijuana.
