Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Former Officer Bruce Bochicchio Charged with Stealing Stun Gun

Former Waterbury police officer Bruce Bochicchio was charged Monday with keeping a municipally issued electronic stun gun after he left the force.

The second-degree larceny charge lodged by Waterbury police against Bochicchio was added to weapons and domestic disturbance charges he already faces.

Police say Bochicchio, 41, of Morris kept the stun gun, a device that can deliver an electric shock, long after he left the force in August 2006.

Bochicchio's defense attorney, Tom Waterfall of Torrington, said his client returned all his other job materials to the city when he left the department, but simply forgot to return the stun gun.

"In order for the court to prove larceny, you must prove the intention to permanently deprive the other of the property," he said. "If you forget, it doesn't meet the statute."

Police seized the stun gun and 10 other weapons, including an assault rifle, and two fully automatic submachine guns, during a search of his home in late June. They recently discovered the stun gun was among the items Bochicchio should have returned to Waterbury police.

Officers searched Bochicchio's house after his wife, Christine, told them she feared for her safety and believed her husband had weapons in the house in violation of a previous restraining order filed against him.

Bochicchio ultimately was charged with violating the restraining order. Around the same time, state police charged him with threatening based on a complaint by his wife in the wake of domestic disputes.

He is under orders to stay away from his wife and the home where they lived.

Bochicchio is scheduled for an appearance Aug. 26 at Waterbury Superior Court. He will likely be arraigned and have his case transferred to New Britain Superior Court and combined with his other arrest cases, said Paul Murray of the Chief State's Attorney's Office.

Bochicchio's brother, Michael, a former state police trooper, shot and killed his wife, Donna, and critically injured her attorney, Julie Porzio, outside a courthouse in Middletown during a contentious divorce in 2005.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello,

Let me first state, that I do not agree or condone any wrong doing. We need to be mindful that police officers are human too and yes, they are surpose to uphold the law. They human too and some will make mistakes. That's why we need to pray for them daily as well as others. All to often society forgets that police officers and pastors are human too. They struggle everyday just like others to try to live a good productive live. I try not to judge anyone because, we've all done wrong regardless if it's not a big as what they may have done. Please remember that they are someones, son, daughter, wife, husband etc and we need to pray for all law enforcement officers as well as those in the military.

They need our prayers too.

Anonymous said...

they are put into positions of power over the average "citizen"
under witness by god they should know better than to harm ones family its a crazy world and thanks to guns we sometimes die in a bloody mess