Fairfield County | featured news

DANBURY - A 31-year-old Danbury man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he met online.

Scott Garofalo was arrested on a warrant charging him with second-degree sexual assault.

Lt. Christian A. Carroccio said that police began investigating a complaint made on Aug.

STAMFORD-A city man has been charged with having sex with a 13-year-old city girl.

Sgt. Joseph Kennedy said the arrest stemmed from a family’s complaint about disappearance of young girl in October.

Kennedy said the family got a lead on the 13-year-old girl’s whereabouts and enlisted the help of the brother of the teen she was believed to be with. The parties went to New Jersey and were able to bring the girl safely back home to her family.

The man she was allegedly with, Adelso Santiago-Gomez, 19, of Alden Street was charged with risk of injury to a child.

STAMFORD — In response to the severe nationwide flu outbreak, the Connecticut Department of Public Health has launched a statewide flu vaccination campaign with a free clinic to be held Saturday in Stamford.

This year’s flu has spread across the continental United States and is putting more people in the hospital and causing more deaths than other common flu bugs, according to the Associated Press.

Flu season begins in late fall and usually peaks in mid to late winter and can continue through early spring.

STAMFORD-A suspected car burglar carrying a knife on Hope Street had his head slammed with a baseball bat by a resident and staggered off into the night, despite police trying to find him.

Sgt. Roberty Shawinsky said police were called by a Springdale resident just after 1 a.m. Monday who said he had been sleeping lightly after hearing that some cars were being broken into around his neighborhood near Avon Lane.

He said just before 1 a.m. the man said he heard something outside and armed himself with a wooden baseball bat before venturing out doors to have a look around.

STAMFORD — A Naugatuck woman was charged with drug possession Sunday afternoon after she was spotted by police at America’s Best Value motor inn on Stamford’s East Side.

Sgt. Robert Shawinsky said patrol officers in the area were told to be on the lookout for a woman who would be showing up at the motel with a quantity of cocaine for sale.

The officers soon spotted the woman in the car and pulled up to it. Officer Kelly Reynolds searched the woman and found a plastic bag containing 4.4 grams of powder cocaine and another plastic bag containing crack cocaine, Shawinsky said.

REDDING — Authorities are investigating after a swastika was carved onto a tree at a local popular trail.

A community member found the swastika, photographed it and reported it to officials, First Selectman Julia Pemberton said in a post on the Redding Facebook page on Saturday.

Pemberton said officials are searching for those “responsible for this act of hate.”

“There is no place for hate in Redding,” she said in the post.

The post did not say which trail the swastika was found on.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Redding police at 203-938-3400.

STAMFORD — A Darien man has been arrested after police say he sold crack cocaine to an undercover officer several times.

Frank Green, 34, of Allen O’Neill Drive, has been charged with three counts each of sale of narcotics and conspiracy to sell narcotics.

Capt. Richard Conklin said the Stamford police department’s Narcotics and Organized Crime squad led the investigation with the help of the Darien Police Department.

KENT — Crews were able to contain a fire that broke out Saturday afternoon at a South Main Street restaurant.

Litchfield County dispatch said firefighters from several towns were sent to Wasabi Asian Cuisine restaurant around 1 p.m. for reports of a structure fire. Route 7 was closed down while officials were on the scene.

The fire was “pretty much under control” by 1:30 p.m., police said, but the road was still closed.

DANBURY — Two people were sent to the emergency room to be treated for burns following a car explosion, according to the Danbury Fire Department.

Danbury firefighters responded to a rollover accident that resulted in a car explosion around 3:40 a.m. Saturday in the area of 167 Long Ridge Road.

Fire officials said that when they arrived the car was already fully engulfed in flames.

Two of the car’s occupants were later transported to the Western Connecticut Health Network emergency room to be treated for burns.

STAMFORD — A judge has refused to reduce the bail for a Norwalk man accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl.

Judge Richard Comerford said he rejected the request mostly because new evidence shows the 55-year-old man’s DNA was found on the girl and her underwear.

Rafael Reyes-Santos has been charged with first-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a child and fourth-degree sexual assault. He has been held since his arrested last June in lieu of a $500,000 court appearance bond at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.