Norwalk Police Terminate Officer Who Had Faced Sex Assault Charges

NORWALK, Conn. -- The Norwalk Police Department terminated an officer who was arrested in 2009 on sexual assault charges that later were dropped.

Norwalk police terminated an officer who had been arrested on sexual assault charges that were later dismissed.
Photo Credit: *File*

Casey Donahue

03/10/2015 7:30 p.m.

Anthony Santo was fired Monday due to violations of a number of sections in the Norwalk Police Manual, the police department announced Tuesday evening.

Santo was arrested in October 2009 in Greenwich and charged with second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

According to the Stamford Advocate, the daughter of one of Santo's friends said he groped her in 2003 when she was 13 years old. Santo was suspended without pay that year and his first trial ended in a mistrial in 2012. The state later dropped charges against him in October 2014 after the alleged victim did not want to testify again, according to the Advocate.

Norwalk police said the violations for which Santo was fired included violation of rules, conformance to laws, incompetence, unbecoming conduct and intervention.

"After reviewing the results of the internal investigation, I found just cause for termination based upon the totality of the facts and circumstances," Chief Thomas Kulhawik said in a statement.

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