Cheshire Police Officer Arrested on Dog Theft Allegation

A Cheshire police officer, who was a witness during the trial of convicted killer Joshua Komisarjevsky, and his wife were both arrested by Naugatuck police in connection to a dog-theft incident, police said.

Thomas and Dawn Wright, both 39, of Naugatuck, turned themselves in to the borough police department on Wednesday after learning of a warrant charging them with stealing a dog, obstructing an animal control officer and fourth-degree larceny. 

According to Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Robert Harrison, a complaint was lodged with police in September after a borough resident stumbled upon .

The woman was researching the history of her home when she came across an article published on March 2 about a basement fire at 199 Allerton Road, Harrison said. According to firefighters at the scene, the home was occupied by a Cheshire police officer at the time.

The complainant then told police that the picture posted on Naugatuck Patch of a pug rescued from the fire was her dog that went missing in January 2010. Harrison said the woman filed a report with the Naugatuck Animal Control Office on Jan. 27 about her missing pug.

“Based on that (Patch) article, she started to make inquiries into the location of the dog, with both veterinarians and animal control officers,” Harrison said.

He said the Wrights have had the pug in their possession for more than a year since finding the dog roaming on the street.

The dog had an embedded identity chip, Harrison said, but the Wrights refused to allow police to scan the dog’s chip to confirm whether the pug was the reported missing canine.The complainant said the dog cost her $1,378 and provided a receipt, police said.

Because the Wrights refused to have the dog scanned, Naugatuck police were forced to execute a search warrant, which was signed by a superior court judge. Once the search warrant was executed, the dog’s microchip was scanned and it revealed the pug was registered to the complainant, Harrison said.

Two people who answered the door at the Wrights' home Friday declined to comment. The Wrights were released on promises to appear at Waterbury Superior Court on Oct. 19.

Wright was one of the Cheshire police officers who testified in September during the Cheshire home invasion trial that ended this week when a jury found Komisarjevsky guilty of murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daugthers, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, according to the Connecticut Post.