New London
A 22-year veteran of the Connecticut State Police was arraigned Friday in New London Superior Court on charges that he allegedly barged into his ex-girlfriend's apartment and pointed a gun at her boyfriend.
Paul T. Vera, 44, of 31 Shore Road, Waterford, was charged with second-degree threatening, third-degree criminal mischief and second-degree criminal trespass.
State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said Vera has been placed on administrative duty, where he will have no contact with the public, since the incident was reported in November.
The state police is conducting its own internal investigation. Vera could not be reached for comment.
According to the arrest warrant, Groton Town police received a complaint Nov. 9 that Vera, the ex-boyfriend of the complainant's girlfriend, barged into her apartment and into the bedroom in “full battle rattle,” dressed in dark-colored police fatigues with police patches on the chest and arm.
Vera then allegedly pointed a handgun at the complainant's waist and yelled to his ex-girlfriend, calling her “an (expletive) whore,” before leaving the apartment.
Vera's ex-girlfriend also told police Vera entered the apartment with something black in his hand that he was pointing at her and a man, the warrant said.
Vera, who was interviewed Nov. 9, said he had been in an on-and-off relationship with the woman for about two years. They lived together, and she moved out of his house.
Vera told police that on Nov. 8 he asked his ex-girlfriend if she was in a relationship with another man, and she denied it. The next day he tried calling her at 3:30 a.m. and got no response, so he got dressed in a grey T-shirt, blue running pants and sneakers and went to her apartment.
When he got there, he walked to the sliding glass door and noticed that the slider was slightly open and some of the blinds were outside of the porch. He knocked on the door and got not answer.
Vera told police he entered the apartment because he was concerned, and could hear her having sex with someone, so he “barreled” through her bedroom door. According to the warrant, Vera admitted calling the woman “an (expletive) whore” before leaving the apartment.
On his way out of the apartment, he said he took her phone so he could check her calls and text messages. He denied having any firearms with him.
In the warrant, Vera said on his way home he heard over a radio broadcast that Groton Town police were looking for him, and he said he immediately called the on-duty supervisor.
After being reinterviewed the next day, Vera's ex-girlfriend came to police headquarters a few days after the incident to recant her statement, the warrant said. She told police that in the past Vera would come to her apartment late at night through her sliding glass door.
She said she couldn't really see what Vera was wearing and felt her boyfriend was influencing her recollection of the incident because she was drunk, the warrant said. She became suspicious of her boyfriend's behavior when he told her he had retained an attorney and was going to sue the state.
”He told her that they would each win $12 million after paying the attorney $3 million,” the warrant said.
At Vera's arraignment Friday, Judge Michael Frechette issued a protective order prohibiting Vera from having contact with the two alleged victims and from possessing guns.
Defense attorney William T. Koch Jr. asked the judge to consider imposing a “no contact order” rather than a protective order, given Vera's 22 years as a state trooper and lack of a criminal record.
The judge denied the request and continued the case to Feb. 5. Kevin Dunn, a domestic violence attorney for the Chief State's Attorney's office, will be prosecuting the case.
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