NORTH HAVEN, Conn. — On Thursday, the state’s Division of Criminal Justice announced that the review of a complaint filed by the North Haven Democratic Town Committee about state Sen. Paul Cicarella (R-North Haven) is over.
The DCJ Workers’ Compensation Fraud Control Unit reviewed allegations that “underlie the complaint relating to Sen. Cicarella’s application for, and subsequent granting of, workers’ compensation benefits for an injury suffered while Sen. Cicarella was employed by the Connecticut Department of Correction in 2008,” the DCJ release said.
According to prosecutors, the original complainant was Steve Gifford, the vice chair of the North Haven Democratic Town Committee. The NHDTC cited reports by Hearst Media Cicarella collected $123,000 in workers’ compensation payments between December 2008 and July 2013 without reporting three other sources of income, as required by state law.
Prosecutors said the fraud control unit reviewed Workers’ Compensation Commission databases and found that the case had been settled with a stipulated agreement in a commission hearing in August 2014. Robert Guiditta, director of the Connecticut Workers’ Compensation at the Department of Administrative Services, said Cicarella did not receive any more benefits after 2014.
“The statute of limitations for potential criminal conduct arising out of these allegations expired in 2019,” the release said. “Therefore, since prosecution of any conduct related to this matter would be barred by the relevant statute of limitations, the DCJ will not be continuing any investigation and considers the matter closed.”
According to the release, DCJ has not received any referrals from the Office of the State Comptroller, the Connecticut Medical Examining Board, or the Office of Policy and Management relative to any potential illegal conduct surrounding Cicarella’s current disability pension.
A separate review of Cicarella's case by the Office of the State Comptroller is ongoing, however, “absent a referral from the agencies responsible for determining the validity of pension qualifications, the DCJ has no basis to conduct a criminal investigation,” the release said.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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