Original reporting by Dave Altimari and Andrew Brown. Compiled by Gabby DeBenedictis. In May 2022, Aimee Plourde was hired into a high-ranking position at the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection after human resources officer Marybeth Bonsignore emailed interview questions to her in advance, according to an internal affairs report released on Dec. 4 by state police attorneys. The 206-page report concludes that several state employees colluded to hire Plourde as the DESPP chief financial officer, despite her seemingly not having the skillsets required for the job. In the role, Plourde oversaw the budget and spending for the agency. She was one of the highest-ranked civilians in the department, which oversees the Connecticut State Police and Homeland Security. Plourde stayed in the position until December 2023, when Ronnell Higgins, the new DESPP Commissioner, ordered an internal affairs investigation into how she was hired. Here’s what to know. Bonsignore leaked interview questions to Plourde, the report found. Four days before the interview, Bonsignore had emailed the questions to Plourde, the internal affairs report found. When interviewed by state police detectives, Bonsignore claimed that she sent Plourde the “live” questions by mistake and had planned to just send her sample questions to help her prepare for her interview. According to the report, detectives asked Bonsignore if she thought the hiring process was conducted fairly, to which she responded, “Well it certainly doesn’t appear that way, but that was not my intent and I am very remorseful.” When detectives asked Plourde what she did when she realized Bonsignore had sent her the questions in advance, she said she opened the attachment containing the interview questions and thought, “Oh my gosh they are interview questions.”  Plourde said she only read the first three questions before closing the attachment.  Investigators then showed Plourde an email she sent her husband, asking him to print all of the questions the day after she received them from Bonsignore. She told detectives that she “only read the first few and put the printed questions into a drawer.” She denied using the questions during her virtual interview with the three-member committee. Plourde may not have been qualified for the job, text messages and emails show. The report includes text messages and emails from government and private accounts that show Plourde did not have the relevant experience to perform the job, which state officials referred to as “the backbone” of the state agency. One of those text exchanges, which occurred during Plourde’s final interview on April 11, 2022, was between Bonsignore and Scott Devico, an executive assistant to then-DESPP Commissioner James Rovella and a member of the committee that hired Plourde. Despite being tipped to the questions she’d be asked, Plourde was not doing well in the interview, prompting Devico to text Bonsignore in the middle of the interview: “I don’t think I am going to be able to justify putting Aimee ahead of (the other candidate) … She doesn’t seem to have the Core CT, procurement, etc. experience.”  The two then exchanged messages discussing whether delaying a recommendation about a candidate was a possibility. Devico also noted that officials from the state’s Equal Employment Opportunities office were involved in the interview. The other finalist was a Black woman, according to the internal affairs report. Higgins became concerned following a meeting with Plourde. Plourde met for the first time in December 2023 with newly named Commissioner Higgins to go over the agency’s budget. Higgins told investigators he was concerned when Plourde couldn’t answer basic questions about the budget in that meeting.  The next night, Plourde approached Bonsignore at the retirement party for Rovella and threatened her, according to DAS employees interviewed by state police as part of the internal investigation. Erica D’Angelo, Bonsignore’s boss, told investigators that Bonsignore told her that Plourde had approached her and asked for her help, saying, “If you don’t, then I am going to tell people what you did to help me get hired.”  When D’Angelo told DAS administrators about that conversation, they notified Higgins, who placed Plourde on administrative leave on Dec. 7, 2023 and ordered the internal affairs investigation.  Investigators sustained charges against three people. Investigators sustained three charges against Bonsignore, including “fraud or collusion in connection with any examination or appointment in the classified service.” They also sustained four charges against Plourde, and two charges against Devico for “misleading investigators during his interview” and for “conduct unbecoming a DESPP employee” for texting Bonsignore updates during Plourde’s interview. Devico eventually left state service when Higgins sent him a letter last June declining to reappoint him.  Plourde has resigned and Bonsignore will retire. Plourde resigned in June 2024 after the internal affairs investigation was completed. Bonsignore, whose annual salary is about $146,000, will be allowed to retire effective Feb. 1 and will be on paid leave until then, according to the agreement with the state Office of Labor Relations. The two-page agreement was signed by Bonsignore and attorneys for the Office of Labor Relations on Nov. 27. It forbids her from ever again working for the state of Connecticut. The state also agrees that if contacted by a potential employer about Bonsignore that it will say only that she is retired and give her dates of employment.