Danbury, Fairfield County | featured news

DANBURY — Two serious crashes have closed parts of Padanaram Road late Wednesday morning, police said.

The first accident was reported at the corner of Jeanette Street and Padanaram Road. The second took place on Golden Hill Road, less than half a mile from the first one.

Injuries were reported on both accidents, but police did not immediately provide any additional information.

More details as they become available.

DANBURY — One year after a 23-year-old Bethel mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident, her friends and family are still looking for closure.

Police have made no arrests in the case, but have identified a vehicle of interest, which is described as a white van with a ladder rack and passenger-side windows.

Friends and family have described her as an athletic, kind and compassionate person.

Gerard Sack urges Danbury-area residents to try to remember any suspicious behavior by someone owning a white van in the days following the accident, which happened a week after Halloween.

“If the

RIDGEFIELD — Police are investigating a series of break-ins, including an armed robbery, that spanned through several days in a neighborhood near Route 116.

Sometime between Nov. 1 and 2, a burglar smashed the window of a car parked on Old Sib Road and took a cell phone and several credit and debit cards, according to police.

[...] another break-in was reported last Thursday, when a Ledges Road resident told police their home was burglarized and a laptop computer was stolen.

NEWTOWN - A man threatening to “shoot anybody” who went to his house prompted a brief police standoff Sunday night, authorities said.

When officers arrived, the victim and her child had already left the house, but police said the suspect remained defiant, causing officers to set up a perimeter around the house and negotiate with the man, who was later identified as 35-year-old Samir Raslan.

Elizabeth Kerekes, a former assistant in the schools’ finance department, appeared before a judge Monday in state Superior Court in Danbury, where she applied for accelerated rehabilitation.

Kerekes and her former boss, Art Colley, had been the subject of an internal audit and a months-long police investigation involving misuse of tens of thousands of public dollars since 2011.

A school audit this year revealed about $124,000 in questionable spending by Kerekes and Colley, including payments to Colley’s daughter’s landlord, Colley’s personal American Express bill and orthodontia wor

DANBURY — As police continue to search for the driver who struck a college student Sept. 30 on White Street, the victim’s family is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

Witnesses told police the man pressed the button to activate the flashing yellow lights for the crosswalk before he stepped into traffic and was struck by a car traveling eastbound, according to the report.

James Viadero, a college professor as well as chief of Middlebury’s small department, is deeply familiar with Newtown, its police force and the challenges the department faces.

“That’s a huge benefit, because he has a lot of experience on the day-to-day operations of the agency, the long-term strategic planning, and he’s familiar with all the personnel issues” the department faces, said Brian Budd, vice-chairman of the Newtown Police Commission.

Newtown police commissioners, who unanimously voted Tuesday to hire Viadero, agree he is the right man for the job, which everyone recogn

Nelson Montalvo, 50, is accused of taking about 30 pieces of underwear from laundry piles during at least five break-ins at the same house.

The victims initially believed they had just lost the underwear, but figured that wasn’t the case once the damaged items re-appeared at the house, police said.

NEWTOWN — The police commission has hired away another town’s police chief to replace retiring Michael Kehoe as head of the Newtown Police Department.

Paul Mangiafico, chairman of the police commission, said the panel received 10 applications for the job and three candidates were selected for the interview process.

BREWSTER — A Danbury woman who owns a tobacco business in Putnam County, New York, was recently found with more than 3,000 untaxed cigars, hundreds of cartons of untaxed cigarettes, and nearly 60 pounds of untaxed loose tobacco, authorities said.

Working with state and federal enforcement agencies, the New York State Department of Taxation determined that Shelley Wright received illegal products through the mail.