Police Blotter for March 28: New York Man Charged With Using Counterfeit Bills to Buy Computer

The Fairfield Police Department's press briefing on Monday included the following cases. Arrest information does not indicate a conviction.

A Brooklyn, N.Y. man was arrested Friday after trying to purchase a computer using counterfeit bills, police said.

According to police, at around 2:30 p.m., the manager of Staples on Kings Highway East in Fairfield reported that Clarence Jean-Pierre, 31, had purchased a Dell laptop computer valued at $848 using $100 U.S. bills believed to be counterfeit. When officers arrived, they interviewed both Jean-Pierre, who admitted to purchasing the computer, and the manager, who thought the bills didn’t look right, police said. A money checker machine at the store and side-by-side comparison with a real $100 bill also showed differences, police said.

A subsequent call to the U.S. Secret Service confirmed the bills were counterfeit, police said.

Jean-Pierre was charged with fifth-degree criminal attempt to commit larceny and 11 counts of first-degree forgery. He was taken to police headquarters, posted $100,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court on Friday, police said.

A Fairfield man was arrested Friday after an argument with his wife turned physical and he resisted officers’ efforts to arrest him, police said.

William Haslof, 55, of Pease Avenue in Fairfield's Southport neighborhood, was charged with second-degree breach of peace and interfering with an officer. He was held in lieu of $5,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court March 28, police said.

According to police, Haslof was a passenger in a car his wife was driving in downtown Fairfield around 2:30 p.m. when an argument erupted. As the argument turned physical, Haslof's wife pulled into the Sherman Green parking lot, police said. There, the complainant, a worker in an office across the street, saw Haslof strike his wife in the head with his hands, police said.

When officers arrived, they found Haslof's wife walking through the parking lot with one shoe off, police said. Officers interviewed the couple and arrested Haslof, who tried to resist as they handcuffed him, police said.

A Bridgeport man was arrested Saturday on both a warrant charge and trying to pass himself off as his brother, police said.

According to police, Michael Kerma, 50, of Shell Street, was brought to police headquarters at around noon on a warrant for second-degree failure to appear in court for a shoplifting charge on Jan. 17. As he was being booked on the warrant, he lied and told police he was David Kerma, refused to cooperate with officers and refused to be fingerprinted, police said.

Kerma was charged with criminal impersonation, interfering with an officer and refusal to be fingerprinted, police said. Kerma was held in lieu of a total $25,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court April 4, police said.

Three men were arrested on various charges after a traffic stop on Reef Road in Fairfield early Saturday.

According to police, at around 1:30 a.m., a patrol officer saw a motorist driving erratically on Reef Road between Post Road and Sherman Street. They pulled the vehicle over, and when they approached the driver, Hugo Gonzalez, 27, of Strawberry Lane in Shelton, they detected alcohol on his breath and found three opened alcoholic beverages in the car, police said.

Gonzalez failed field sobriety tests and was charged with driving under the influence, failure to drive right and operating under suspension, police said. He was held in lieu of $100 bond and was scheduled to appear April 4 in Bridgeport Superior Court, police said.

A passenger, Mark Cardenas, 32, of Westbury, N.Y., was also arrested after repeatedly placing his hands in his pockets, refusing to leave the car, yelling and swearing at officers and concealing a small knife in the waistband of his pants, police said.

Another passenger, Bladimir Barriera, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested as well, after interrupting officers, repeatedly putting his hands in his pockets and refusing to leave the car, police said.

Cardenas and Barriera were each charged with interfering with an officer, police said. Each was held in lieu of $1,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court April 4, police said.

Two men were arrested on drug charges Saturday in the parking lot of the Fairfield Senior Center on Mona Terrace, police said.

According to police, at around 1 a.m., a complainant reported two suspicious men, identified by police as Joseph Furniss, 21, of Mona Terrace in Fairfield, and Nathaniel Sember, 21, of Northeast, Md., sitting in a car in the parking lot. When officers arrived and approached the vehicle, they smelled marijuana, police said.

When asked if they had any drugs, Furniss handed police two small baggies of marijuana and two packs of rolling papers, while Sember turned over six small baggies of marijuana, police said.

Furniss and Sember were each charged with possession of marijuana and released on a promise to appear in Bridgeport Superior Court April 4, police said.

A Bridgeport man was arrested Friday after a motor vehicle accident in front of the Brick Walk Shopping Center on the Post Road in Fairfield.

According to police, around 4 p.m., a motorist driving a 2010 BMW was turning into a driveway at the Post Office when the motorist struck a scooter operated by Jorge Gutierrez, 29, of North Avenue. Gutierrez' motorized scooter was struck as Gutierrez improperly passed between two westbound cars that had stopped to let the BMW turn, police said.

Gutierrez, who refused medical attention, was given a misdemeanor summons for improper passing, failure to drive right and operating under suspension, police said. He was released on a promise to appear in Bridgeport Superior April 5, police said.

A GPS was stolen from a minivan on Friday that was parked on the Post Road in Fairfield by the Bridgeport border, police said.

According to police, the complainant reported that sometime between 2:20 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., the driver’s-side window on her Honda Odyssey was smashed and a GPS that had been sitting on the dashboard was stolen. The GPS was valued at $125 while damage to the window was estimated at $500, police said.

A woman reported to police on Saturday that a motorist pulled up to her in his vehicle and exposed himself while she was walking in Fairfield.

According to the police report, at around 5:30 p.m., the victim was walking east on Jackman Avenue near Park Avenue when a beige compact vehicle pulled up alongside her. The driver, described as a medium- to dark-skinned black male with an accent, opened his window, called her over and exposed himself, police said. She yelled at him to “get out of here,” upon which he drove off at a high rate of speed, police said. She was able to capture a partial Connecticut license plate number, 632YK, police said.

A resident on Longfellow Avenue in Fairfield reported the theft of a dirt bike at around 4 p.m. on Friday, police said.

The resident told officers that her daughter saw a male approximately 14 or 15 years old enter the open back door of a communal hallway at their three-family residence and leave with the bike, police said. The teen rode the bike eastbound on Castle Avenue toward Jennings Road where he apparently met up with three other male teens, police said.

Officers checked the area but could not locate the teens or the bike, which was valued at $200, police said.

A resident on Home Fair Drive in Fairfield reported Saturday that four male teenagers on foot and wearing hooded sweatshirts vandalized an adjacent property.

According to the complainant, at around 1 p.m., as the boys were running toward Lucille Street, they damaged a light post and mailbox on Home Fair Drive. Officers checked the area but did not find the teens, police said. There was no information about the estimated value of the damage.