Former Springfield police officer charged with harassing ex-partner

Crime

Steven Vigneault was beforehand on the forefront of a police controversy involving extreme use of power.

Prosecutors charged a 56-year-old former Springfield police officer for allegedly inserting a monitoring gadget on his ex-partner’s automobile and secretly recording her throughout sexual acts, courtroom data present.

Steven Vigneault, of East Longmeadow, pleaded not responsible to 1 cost of prison harassment and one cost of photographing an unsuspecting nude individual throughout his arraignment in Springfield District Court docket on Tuesday.

Vigneault was a member of the Springfield Police Division from 2013 to 2016 and served within the army, courtroom data present.

Vigneault was beforehand embroiled in an issue that included a whistleblower lawsuit in opposition to town and a federal prison indictment for extreme power. Springfield settled the lawsuit in 2022, and the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace dropped the fees in 2020.

A decide launched Vigneault on private recognizance Tuesday below the situation that he not contact the alleged sufferer, courtroom data present.

Vigneault’s lawyer didn’t reply to requests for remark.

“[The victim] expressed emotions of concern associated to this incident to the purpose the place at instances she said that she felt uncomfortable going to work … [which] leads me to imagine that that is inflicting her substantial emotional misery,” police wrote in a report filed in courtroom.

The most recent case in opposition to former Springfield officer

Vigneault first met the alleged sufferer 4 years in the past at a on line casino the place she works as a cocktail server. The 2 started a courting relationship eight months in the past, based on the police report.

Roughly 5-10 instances all through the summer time, Vigneault allegedly confirmed as much as the place she was, regardless of her not sharing her location with him, the report says.

The girl found a monitoring gadget in a magnetic key holder field beneath her automobile in August, the report says. Vigneault allegedly admitted to inserting the tracker below her automobile, she informed police.

The girl additionally informed police that Vigneault recorded movies and took photographs of her throughout sexual acts with out her consent, the report says. She didn’t know the photographs and movies existed till he confirmed them to her days or even weeks later.

In one other incident detailed within the police report, Vigneault and the girl attended his son’s soccer sport, the place he allegedly consumed a whole fifth of tequila in an hour. Whereas within the automobile, he turned violent and punched the window till he broke his finger, the report says.

The incident, which the girl believed to be PTSD-related, ended when Vigneault allegedly handed out and threw up on himself, the report says. The girl drove him and his son dwelling when Vigneault’s spouse requested her to go away.

The girl broke up with Vigneault following the incident, the report says.

The costs arose after Vigneault contacted the Massachusetts Gaming Fee to report the girl and two different cocktail servers for allegedly ingesting and utilizing medicine at work, the report says.

Vigneault informed an MGM worker that he had been “monitoring their schedules and actions on the on line casino flooring,” based on the report. State Police then talked to the three servers, and Vigneault’s ex-partner informed police concerning the alleged harassment and nonconsensual photographs, the report says.

A controversial resignation and federal indictment

Vigneault was beforehand on the heart of an extreme use of power case introduced by federal prosecutors. The 2016 incident led Vigneault to resign and file a lawsuit in opposition to town, and he finally turned an FBI informant within the Division of Justice’s investigation into the police division.

The case started after Vigneault allegedly drove to select up a pizza in an unmarked police automobile in February 2016. He left the automobile unattended and two kids allegedly stole the automobile, based on courtroom data.

When police finally pursued the suspects, investigators alleged that one other officer spat on one of many kids and stated, “Welcome to the white man’s world.” The youngsters had been each Latino, based on a information launch from the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace.

The officer allegedly stated he might crush the kid’s cranium and get away with it, and he might plant cocaine on him to get him put away for 15 years, the discharge stated.

The indictment alleged Vigneault kicked one of many kids within the face. Nevertheless, the fees in opposition to Vigneault had been finally dismissed after the kid stated he was “100 [percent] optimistic” that the opposite officer kicked him, courtroom data present.

A federal jury acquitted the opposite officer of all prices in 2021.

Nevertheless, the victims of the alleged extreme use of power sued the Metropolis of Springfield. Town finally paid greater than $550,000 in whole settlements to the 2 victims, MassLive reported.

Vigneault filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Metropolis of Springfield in 2017, alleging that town violated the commonwealth’s whistleblower statute. He stated he reported the opposite officer for fixed intoxication at work and breaking into the house of Vigneault’s accomplice — one other officer — and threatening to kill them, courtroom data present.

Vigneault stated he felt pressured into resigning, which he did in 2016, courtroom data present.

Town and Vigneault settled the lawsuit for $350,000, as reported by MassLive.

Vigneault additionally served as an FBI informant within the Division of Justice’s investigation into the Springfield Police Division’s Narcotics Bureau, courtroom data present. The investigation discovered the bureau to “have interaction in a sample or apply of extreme power.”

The Division of Justice filed a proposed consent decree in 2022 that required town to enhance insurance policies and coaching relating to using power. A decide dismissed the consent decree in Might, based on a information launch from town.