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Press Release

Ansonia Man Charged With Making False Report Of Police Brutality To The Fbi

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Connecticut

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Patricia M. Ferrick, Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced that EDWARD MINERLY, 52, of Ansonia, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today in Hartford federal court to one count of making a false report of police brutality to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on May 18, 2013, officers with the Derby Police Department arrested MINERLY on an outstanding probation violation warrant.  On May 31, 2013, MINERLY called the New Haven Federal Bureau of Investigation and spoke with an FBI special agent.  In the call, MINERLY alleged that Derby Police officers had recently arrested him for a probation violation and, upon placing him in a holding cell, commenced taunting him, subjecting him to flashing lights and tipping him backwards out of his wheelchair.  MINERLY also alleged that Derby Police officers kicked him in the head, arms and upper body.

On June 6, 2013, an FBI special agent interviewed MINERLY in person at a Bridgeport hospital where MINERLY had been admitted.  MINERLY again made allegations similar to those made on May 31, 2013, namely, that Derby Police officers had arrested him and, after placing him in a holding cell, picked him out of his wheelchair, threw him into a wall, flashed the lights on and off, and kicked him in the head and beat him.

In pleading guilty today, MINERLY admitted that the statements he made to the FBI alleging physical abuse by members of the Derby Police Department after his probation violation arrest were false.
“The Department of Justice is committed to investigating and prosecuting civil rights abuses by members of law enforcement,” stated U.S. Attorney Daly.  “We are equally committed to prosecuting false reports of police brutality as these reports not only waste valuable federal law enforcement resources, but they have the potential to indelibly stain the police department and its officers that are unfairly maligned.”

MINERLY is scheduled to be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello on February 10, 2015, at which time he faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.

This matter is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Henry K. Kopel and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Gustafson.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov

Updated March 18, 2015