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    Police-Fire Reports
    Tuesday, May 07, 2024

    Norwich cop surrenders to face sex assault charges

    Colchester - A former Norwich police officer wanted on sexual-assault charges turned himself in to state police Tuesday afternoon.

    Kenneth Nieves, 45, of 14 Montgomery Lane, was charged with three counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of risk of injury to a minor.

    Nieves joined the Norwich Police Department in 2002. He resigned on Sept. 30, shortly after he was placed on administrative leave. Police Chief Louis Fusaro said Tuesday that the department was "in the process of terminating" Nieves when he resigned.

    Nieves turned himself in to Troop K around 12:10 p.m. Tuesday. He was processed and released on $50,000 bond and will appear in New London Superior Court on Dec. 22.

    Fusaro said he could not go into details about the case but that his department began an investigation in early September into "improper activity" by Nieves. At that point, Fusaro said, the activity had not been reported as illegal.

    Once the department realized a crime may have been committed, it immediately contacted the state's attorney and state police, he said.

    "I can tell you that I'm outraged, as are my officers, by the behavior," Fusaro said. "It was totally unacceptable behavior."

    On Sept. 20, just a week before being placed on leave, police said Nieves, then a member of the department's Crisis Intervention Team, and another officer, Damian Martin, persuaded a despondent person to step down from the roof of the Water Street Parking Garage and seek medical attention.

    In 2002, upon completion of officer training at the Connecticut Police Academy, Nieves was presented with an award recognizing his academic achievement, physical fitness and firearms proficiency.

    s.goldstein@theday.com