Rockville News

The first police heard about a car crash on Ravens Croft was in a phone call early today from the emergency department at Rockville General Hospital where a woman -- who had been in it -- was being treated for ...

An employee of the state Department of Children and Families has been charged in the death of a 7-month-old foster child placed in her care, prompting the agency's leader to seek the worker's firing and ...

School superintendents in East Hartford and Tolland received raises. Police in Manchester grappled with youth gangs.

I believe the June 2 attack on Nick Carbone in Hartford was the result of a serious lapse in law and order that needs to be addressed by the appropriate authorities.

When Tanya Pirtel took her month-old son, Blake, to the pediatrician May 8 to have bruising around his eye checked, the physician told her the bruising was the least of her baby's problems and called 911 for an ambulance. The pediatrician, Dr. Anne Marie Villa, also contacted police in Enfield, where her office is located, to report that she had just treated a baby that she thought had been abused, state police said. The infant was rushed to Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford, where doctors determined the baby had sustained multiple skull fractures and contusions. Pirtel, 19, on Wednedsday said doctors had told her that the baby suffered brain damage.

State police say they charged a Tolland teenager with critically injuring his girlfriend's infant after the baby urinated on him during a diaper change.

The fireworks are scheduled to be fired from the area of Fox Hill Tower in Henry Park about 9:40 p.m. Before the fireworks, a downtown festival is scheduled for 6 to 10 p.m. in Rockville.

It's got to be the only community in Connecticut, perhaps the country, named for a tax.

Robin Brown, 45, of 53 Bissell St., allegedly approached the woman outside a Rockville business and told her: "Get in your car.

West Hartford police have charged a mother-daughter team with stealing more than $200,000 worth of electronics and other items, including a 2008 Dodge Charger, through identity theft and fraudulent use of credit cards.

Detectives and federal agents simultaneously raided two homes - one in West Hartford and the second in Rockville - at about 7 a.m. and arrested the two women.

Barbara Neidkowski, 57, of 86 Thomas St., West Hartford, and Delilah Campbell, 22, of 13 Laurel St., in the Rockville section of Vernon, were arrested Tuesday on charges of first-degree larceny, identity theft, money laundering and trafficking in personal identifying information, police said. Bail for each was set at $500,000, and they are to be arraigned this morning in Superior Court in Hartford.

West Hartford police searched homes in West Hartford and Vernon Tuesday and arrested two women on larceny and identity theft charges.

- The state Appellate Court has agreed to hear an appeal brought by a group of citizens opposed to the agreement between the town planning and zoning commission and the developers who want to build a Home Depot on former baseball fields off I-84's Exit 67.

The citizens, who formed Smart Growth for Vernon and fought the Home Depot proposal, appealed the agreement with the assistance of their lawyer, Derek V. Oatis of Manchester.

The planning and zoning commission had two lawsuits pending against it by the developers when a commission subcommittee met with the developers and their lawyers to work out an agreement. That agreement, which was not subject to the public scrutiny that accompanies zoning applications, was approved by the commission 4-3. The commission and the developers then went to court Feb. 14 to have the agreement approved by Rockville Superior Court Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza.

A Bolton man was ordered Wednesday to have no contact with the 14-year-old girl he is accused of sexually assaulting.

Charles Leopizzo, 57, of 12 Notch Road Ext., was charged June 4 with attempted second-degree assault, two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault and two counts of impairing the morals of a child. He was arraigned Wednesday in Superior Court in Rockville.

According to the warrant for his arrest, Leopizzo cut open a piece of wrapped candy the 14-year-old liked and slipped in one of his wife's sleeping pills. The child noticed that the candy had been tampered with and poured out what she described as powder. Then she ate a portion of the candy before throwing away the rest.

On June 26, at 10:30 a.m., a program on butterflies will be led by Jane Seymour of the Belding Wildlife Management Area.

William J. McGurk, president and CEO of Rockville Bank, is scheduled to ring the closing bell Friday at the NASDAQ Stock Market.

- The man accused of shooting his live-in girlfriend in the face April 14 in their Coventry apartment can face a charge of murder, a Superior Court Judge in Rockville ruled Thursday.

Judge Robert Vacchelli's decision came after a nearly daylong hearing during which Alfredo 'Junior' Ferrer lashed out at the family of the woman he is accused of killing, Amanda Realie. Also, a state police detective and state Department of Children and Families social worker each described confessions Ferrer made about the killing.

Customers flock to wholesale clubs like B.J.'s in North Haven because gas is cheaper than most.

- Armed with tin snips and fortified by an evening of drinking, a Vernon man led an assault on an electronic speed sign mounted to a utility pole near his South Street home early Sunday.

After noticing the sign missing, police launched a search and soon found its charred remains in a fire pit behind the home of Ben Gardiner.

Gardiner, 22, of 291 South St., admitted, police said, to taking out his anger on the sign after it flashed his speed as he arrived home about 1 a.m. Sunday.

Gardiner, joined by two friends, tried to cut the metal bands holding it to the pole with tin snips but had trouble, police said. Gardiner told officers that his friend, James R. Grimord Jr., took over and cut it down, police said.

- When Charles D. Chaloult went to prison for five months in December 2006 for selling narcotics, he had another nine years and seven months hanging over his head as a suspended sentence.

Rockville Superior Court Judge Terence A. Sullivan was not satisfied that the sentence was tough enough, but agreed to the plea bargain reached by the prosecutor and Chaloult's defense lawyer. He did, however, make clear to Chaloult that he was receiving a significant break and warned there would be zero tolerance for any violations while he was on probation.

Henry Park will be buzzing Saturday with the Vernon Community Festival, which offers music and a host of activities for families.

Highlights will include a vintage car show, sky divers and the landing of a Connecticut Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter.

Carl Schaefer, who organized the festival with the Vernon Junior Women's Club, the town Bicentennial Committee and the town parks and recreation department, said the goal is to attract a cross-section of Vernon residents to a kid-friendly event. 'The idea was to make it for the whole family,' Schaefer said.