U.S. attorney salutes force for cracking high profile cases

Written by Maggie Caldwell, Editor
Friday, 03 February 2012 09:00

Members of the Greenwich Police force were honored last month for their work bringing criminals to justice in several complex and high profile cases, including aiding in capturing a pedophile, busting a drug ring and arresting a murderer.

The officers were recognized Friday, Jan. 20 at the seventh annual United States Attorney’s Office Law Enforcement Awards Ceremony in New Haven. David B. Fein, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, presided.

The ceremony recognized a select number of criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement actions that were completed during the past year.

Greenwich Detective Christy Girard was honored for her work tracking down a sexual abuse victim who led police to her abuser. In the case of United States v. William Oehne, an INTERPOL child exploitation working group in Lyon, France notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that one of the most prolific images of child abuse on the Internet was likely an American girl based on information they gathered by magnifying the images that were taken in the child’s bedroom. The FBI was able to obtain the child’s name and date of birth and began tirelessly to locate every child in the United States with her first name and date of birth. Special agents from the New Haven Field Office with the assistance of the Greenwich Poice Department were able to identify her likely residence in Greenwich. Within 48 hours, the girl was interviewed by an FBI forensic interviewer and identified William Oehne as her abuser.

FBI learned that Mr. Oehne was residing in Virginia, where he was free on a state bond for charges relating to the sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl. FBI agents and task force officers found Mr. Oehne at his home, located three unique gold rings that he had worn during videotaped abuse of the minor victim, and arrested him.

Greenwich Police Chief James Heavey said the international case involved a huge amount of coordination with INTERPOL, the FBI and other agencies and praised Det. Girard for her work and the long effort to identify other victims.

Mr. Oehne pled guilty and was sentenced to 45 years of incarceration.

Murder conviction

Several members of the Greenwich Police Department were commended for their assistance in bringing a murderer to justice after the body of a Bronx drug dealer was found dumped near the Merritt Parkway in backcountry Greenwich.

In the case of United States vs. Larry Corbett, George McPherson, a marijuana dealer in the Bronx, was found dead in Greenwich. According to the case file, Larry Corbett, one of Mr. McPherson’s Connecticut customers, had arranged to travel to his home to purchase drugs. Having lured Mr. McPherson into his vehicle on the pretext of completing the drug transaction, Mr. Corbett robbed Mr. McPherson of marijuana, shot him to death and drove him to Greenwich, where he dumped Mr. McPherson’s lifeless body. Mr. Corbett was arrested for the crime by Greenwich detectives two weeks later. Because of potential jurisdictional issues, neither the Connecticut state’s attorney nor the New York district attorney were able to prosecute the case, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to step in.

Mr. Fein noted that through the investigative work of a cadre of Greenwich police officers and detectives, they were able to secure Mr. Corbett’s eventual conviction.

“These are all cases where there was a lot of detective work that needed background, a lot of effort and coordination with federal officers and other agencies,” Chief Heavey said.” The Corbett case was difficult because the body was found in Greenwich. From that point on, we became integral to the investigation with the U.S. attorney... It was good detective work that brought that case to closure.”

Mr. Corbett was indicted on federal charges, including kidnap-murder and felony murder as well as related drug and weapons offenses. Mr. Corbett was sentenced to a term of life plus 10 years in prison for the robbery and murder of Mr. McPherson.

Greenwich Police Deputy Chief Mark Marino, Detective Sergeant Pierangelo Corticelli, Detectives Charles Brown (Ret.), Anthony Fiscella, Timothy Biggs, William Weissauer, Steve Hickey and Timothy Hilderbrand were all commended for their efforts.

Drug bust

Greenwich Police Detective Hilderbrand and Sergeant John Rodriguez were recognized for their assistance in bringing down a Connecticut drug ring. In the case of United States vs. Aaron Thompson, et al. Aaron Thompson and his wife, Shurika Rosado, led an organization that sold large quantities of crack cocaine in the Danbury area. Mr. Thompson purchased powder cocaine from Raul Fabian and his wife Quenida Andeliz, and Ms. Rosado cooked it into crack in their family kitchen.

After an extensive investigation, the DEA and Danbury Police Department arrested 32 people and seized drugs, a gun, three bank accounts, two cars, two houses and an airplane. All of the defendants pleaded guilty except Ms. Andeliz, who was convicted after a jury trial.

Although the drug ring had no links to Greenwich, Det. Hilderbrand and Sgt. Rodriguez offered their expertise to the case.

“They were able to coordinate with other agencies and were a big help to cracking the case,” Chief Heavey said. “As chief, I was very proud. It just is a great example of how we are partners with other law enforcement agencies.”

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