Crime & Safety
Cops: Norwalk Man Took Drugs While Kids on Playground
Dominick V. Sciarretta, arrested while kids played in the same playground where police say he was using drugs, has been arrested in New Canaan and Darien on burglary charges.
A man accused of going on a and larcenies last in October in New Canaan and Darien was arrested Wednesday while apparently preparing to inject heroin on a playground as children were playing on it, police said.
Two members of the Norwalk Police Special Services unit said they encountered Dominick V. Sciarretta in the playground behind Columbus Magnet School on Chestnut Street holding a syringe and a cap from a water bottle.
They said the syringe was believed to contain heroin and the cap would be used to cook the heroin.
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Police said there were 25 to 30 young children from a summer program in the playground.
Police gave this account of the incident:
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When they exited their unmarked car and approached Sciarretta at around 2 p.m., he was sitting on the ground looking down, with his legs crossed and leaning back against a fence.
The officers found two glassine envelopes on him, one empty and one apparently containing heroin, and two syringe needles.
Sciarretta, 25, of 20 Juhasz Rd., begged them not to arrest him because he would be in “big trouble.”
Sciarretta was charged with loitering on school grounds, possession of narcotics and possession of narcotics within 1,500 feet of a school, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He was held in lieu of posting $7,500 bond and given a court date of July 14.
Sciarretta was last October for allegedly committing two residential burglaries and three larcenies in town. He was charged with second-degree larceny, third-degree larceny, three counts of sixth-degree larceny, two counts of third-degree burglary, and criminal attempt at second-degree burglary.
He was arrested at his Juhasz Road address by officers executing a search and seizure warrant. They said they found items reported stolen in New Canaan in the defendant’s Honda Accord.
Darien Police arrested Sciarretta last November by warrant for allegedly taking numerous pieces of artwork during the burglary of a home on Barringer Road on the same day the New Canaan incidents were reported.
During numerous court appearances on the New Canaan and Darien charges, his lawyer, Stephan E. Seeger, said his client had been undergoing therapy for his drug addiction.
