Six arrests, one 48-hour window, and — for the first time in the Mercury's running series — a conspiracy pair charged together.
Farmington Police logged six arrests between 7 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, and 7 a.m. Thursday, April 16, according to the department's official press log. Three of the six were at 500 South Road — the address for Westfarms Mall. All three were shoplifting cases. All three were arrests by Officer Daniel R. Aparo, who now has five appearances in the Mercury's series, every one of them at the same address.
On Tuesday afternoon, Officer Aparo arrested Sharon Brailsford, 57, of Meriden, on a charge of Sixth-Degree Larceny under §53a-125b. She was released on a $2,500 non-surety bond, with a court date of April 28 in New Britain.
On Wednesday afternoon, Aparo arrested two more women at the same Westfarms address — and this is where the log turns unusual. Chandrawattie Harry, 67, of Hartford, and Tajwantie Singh, 54, also of Hartford, were arrested together on a shared incident number (#2600006221) and charged identically: Fourth-Degree Larceny under §53a-125, plus Conspiracy under §53a-48 paired with the same statute. Both were released on $2,500 non-surety bonds. Both have a court date of May 8.
This is the first co-defendant pair the Mercury has seen in the running log series, and it introduces two statutes that had not appeared before: §53a-125 Fourth-Degree Larceny, which sits above a Sixth-Degree shoplifting lift and below a Third-Degree case, and §53a-48 Conspiracy paired with a substantive charge. The Westfarms cluster — five shoplifting arrests at this single address across the series, all by the same officer — is now the clearest location pattern on the beat.
Two other arrests happened Wednesday. Officer Aaron M. Benham — his first appearance in the Mercury's series — served a warrant arrest at 319 New Britain Avenue on Benjamin Clay, 58, of Massachusetts. Clay was charged with Third-Degree Burglary under §53a-103 and Third-Degree Larceny under §53a-124. His bond was $1,000 cash. That's notable: in a series where felony warrants have been met overwhelmingly with surety bonds, a cash bond on a burglary warrant is new. Clay's incident number is #1900006213 — a prefix seven years older than the rest of this log's 2600-series numbers, suggesting an aged case finally served. His court date is April 29.
Also on Wednesday, Officer Michael J. Smith arrested Christopher Paparella, 35, of Plymouth, at 6 Colt Highway on a re-arrest warrant for Second-Degree Failure to Appear under §53a-173(a)(1). Paparella posted a $7,500 surety bond and was assigned a court date of May 7. This is the first §53a-173 charge in the Mercury's series.
The sixth arrest happened Tuesday afternoon. Officer Smith arrested Dilworthy Mandhlazi, 43, at 7 Arwood Road — Mandhlazi's own address, and he is the only Farmington resident in this log. The charge: Criminal Violation of a Restraining Order under §53a-223b(d)(1), with a $5,000 surety bond. This is a distinct statute from §53a-223, the Protective Order Violation that has appeared several times in prior logs; the "b" subsection covers restraining orders issued under CT's civil procedures. Mandhlazi was arraigned the following day.
By the numbers: Officer Aparo now has five appearances in the Mercury's series, all five at 500 South Road, all five shoplifting. Officer Smith also has five. Officer Benham has one. Aparo has not appeared elsewhere in the Mercury's series.
All six defendants posted bond. All are presumed innocent.
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— Jack Beckett has covered Farmington's police log long enough to know that Westfarms Mall is its own jurisdiction in all but name. The arrest log was six names. He has read each of them. He is on his second coffee. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the town nobody else is covering — the zoning meeting that ran until 10 p.m., the police log that is technically public record but that you'd never find unless someone typed it up, the board of education vote that determines what your kids learn about next year. We publish slowly, deliberately, and without apology. Our motto is "Always last to breaking news" and we stand behind it: by the time you read this, the dust has settled, the facts are checked, and Jack Beckett has had at least two cups of coffee. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. #WeAreFarmington 📰
See also: Farmington Police Log, March 20–22: Eight Arrests · Farmington Police Beat