Fairfield County, Stamford | featured news

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.

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.

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.

STAMFORD — What you can’t see, taste or smell can sometimes kill you.

Such is the case with radon gas, which many don’t realize is permeating their homes or offices, building up in the air or seeping into the water supply.

Why does it matter? Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer behind smoking and is responsible for around 21,000 deaths a year nationwide, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The naturally occurring radioactive gas is present across the country.

STAMFORD-Without acceptance of a plea agreement in the domestic murder of Jacalyn Sliverman in 2014, jury selection for the longtime boyfriend accused of strangling her to death, Bertony Thoimpson, could begin in early March.

At the end of a brief hearing hearing Thursday at the Stamford courthouse before Judge John Blawie, who is slated to preside over the jury trial, Thompson was scheduled to return to court on March 6.

Thompson’s defense attorney Alan Williams said a 28-year jail offer made to Thompson if he would agree to plead guilty to murder will not be accepted.

STAMFORD-A Manhattan man who apparently injured up to three Stamford police officers during a fight outside the entrance to the Alive@Five concert in early July was sentenced to three years in jail Thursday.

Lamont Holloway, 53, made an appearance at the Stamford courthouse and pleaded guilty to a single felony count of assault on a police officer. As well as the three years in jail, Holloway will spend the following seven years on special parole and can be returned to jail immediately for any violation of the law.

STAMFORD — Police say when they pulled over a car for illegally tinted windows they found a stash of marijuana products.

Sgt. Brian Butler said officers on Woodway Road spotted a car with its windows darkly tinted Tuesday afternoon.

Butler said the officers detected a marijuana smell when they approached the driver, Andrew Sember, 24, of Trumbull.

Butler said Sember was carrying a pistol in a shoulder holster with another gun stuffed in his waistband, for which he had a permit to carry.

STAMFORD-A Meriden man was sentenced to six years in jail Wednesday a week after his partner in the robbery of a Norwalk jewelry store and pawn shop reached a plea agreement with Stamford prosecutors.

Antonio Barreto, 22, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced to six years in jail.

On Sept 9, 2016 he and Donald Outlaw, 29, of Hartford walked into the Gold Rush store, which buys and sells precious metals at 495 Connecticut Avenue and displayed a handgun during the robbery that was caught on surveillance video, police said.