Police Chief John DiFederico shared the following letters for appreciation for New Canaan Police at Wednesday night’s Police Commission meeting.
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Officer Owen Ochs
“Chief, I just wanted to convey my appreciation to Officer Ochs for his diligence and investigative work into a check fraud case. Last month, I had put out an alert on CrimeDex, seeking identification of a suspect that had hit several of our branches. Officer Ochs recognized the photos as being the same suspect active in your town, as well as several other cities and towns in CT. Through diligent investigative work and coordination with other agencies, he was ultimately able to identify the suspect. These cases are particularly difficult to put together, as these traveling check fraud groups, known colloquially as FLG (Felony Lane Gang) use stolen checks and IDs from multiple victims, hit multiple towns in a short period of time, and use stolen plates on their rental vehicles. From my years in law enforcement, I know it is easy for a patrol officer to file a report and move on to the next case, knowing that such a case would likely take many investigative hours with no guarantee of a positive outcome. Officer Ochs stayed with it, and kept me updated, even though I had no victims from your town. Truly professional and dedicated, I am very thankful for his efforts.”
—Terry Shanahan, Deputy Chief Danbury PD (Ret.) and Vice President, BSA/Security Officer, Union Savings Bank
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Chief John DiFederico, Lt. Marc DeFelice and Officer Thomas Patten
“Dear Chief DiFederico, Thank you so much for the Fraud Prevention Program. Our members appreciated your time and the information [from] you and officers DeFelice and Patten.”
—Kathy Collins
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Officer Idelissa Lluveres
“A thief took a letter from my mailbox containing a check for $75 made out to [redacted] which helps children with facial deformities to receive corrective surgery. The thief, named [redacted], then whited out the name of [redacted] and inserted his own and changed the amount to $11,740.17 which he then cashed. My daughter found his unusual name on Facebook but with no address. Officer Lluveres, is going out of her way to help. Perhaps accessing Facebook and Police resources she can locate his address and perhaps a police officer could pay [redacted] a visit. Officer Lluveres is also contacting the Wells Fargo Bank Manager in New Canaan, [redacted], to see if he knows the Wells Fargo branch where [redacted] chased the check. I can’t thank your officer enough.”
—Thomas Cavanagh