BY ANDREAS YILMA
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
PROSPECT — A Naugatuck town employee has been arrested after a stand-off with Naugatuck, Prospect and state police.
Michael Pereira, 41, who works for the Naugatuck Engineering Department and lives on Chandler Drive in Prospect, was taken into custody. But he has since been released on bail after detectives’ investigation determined that Pereira had violated a restraining order.
When police officers attempted to make contact with Pereira, he armed himself with a handgun and barricaded himself inside the residence, police said. The incident resulted in an hourslong stand-off between police and Pereira, according to a police news release.
Police ultimately were able to begin a dialogue with Pereira. He later surrendered without incident and taken into custody by Naugatuck police. Authorities recovered the firearms and no injuries occurred in the stand-off.
Pereira was held on a $200,000 bond and was arraigned at Waterbury Court on charges of violatiing a restraining order and harassment in the second-degree.
The borough worker was arrested most recently on Dec. 21 when he was charged with breach of peace second-degree, reckless endangerment second-degree, violation of protective order and stalking. He had been released from custody on a $210,000 bond.
Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess said Pereira is on leave and the matter is being handled by Human Resources Director John Lawlor and borough labor attorney Nick Grello.
“We’re in the process of setting up a hearing at the borough level to address the issue,” Hess said.
The suspect was involved in vulgar incidents that occurred last summer in 2021 and May of this year.
Naugatuck police were dispatched to Fairchild Park, located on Sharon Avenue on May 6 for a complaint of male exposing himself in the park. Once Naugatuck police officers arrived, they were able to make contact with the complainant, an adult female. The woman stated while she walked her dog at the park, she saw a male holding his genitals while standing by a town vehicle. The woman said she had seen the same person engaging in the same behavior at the park in the summer of 2021, according to a police report.
Pereira was subsequently located and taken into custody. The suspect denied the accusations but confirmed he was at the park. He was released on a $10,000 non surety bond and charged with breach of peace and public indecency.
On May 26, Pereira turned himself in on an arrest warrant out of the borough that occurred on May 4. The charges for that incident are two counts of breach of peace in the second-degree and two counts of public indecency. He was released on a $5,000 surety bond.
An elderly woman who lives in the borough also made accusations that Pereira acted inappropriately on her porch.
Another town employee gave statements to Naugatuck police on how the elderly woman told him the vulgar behavior that was committed by Pereira.
The elderly victim told the town employee she initially met Pereira after the town’s street department helped her clear some debris from her house and they eventually developed a friendship. The suspect came to the elderly woman’s home once where she invited him inside. The victim began crying after she talked about a family member who died. The suspect hugged her with both arms and the manner of the hug made the elderly woman uncomfortable, according to a Naugatuck police arrest warrant from May of this year.
The suspect came back her house to talk and was outside the front of her home. When she got closer she realized he was masturbating and she later went back inside. Pereira came back again to the house when she yelled at him to go away, the warrant states.
When asked about the incident at Fairchild Park by Naugatuck policem Pereira stated he did not know why anyone would make these accusations, the warrant said.
