Former city Police Chief Karl Jacobson appeared in court for the first time on Friday not as someone enforcing the law, but as someone accused of breaking it. He stood before Judge Eugene Calistro in Courtroom A of the courthouse at 121 Elm St. for an arraignment hearing that lasted about a minu te. Jacobson has been arrested for allegedly stealing $85,500 from the police department and the Police Activity League (PAL). He has been charged with two counts of Larceny in the First Degree by Defrauding a Public Community. Jacobson left Friday’s hearing without entering pleas to those two charges. He also agreed to several of the judge’s conditions for his release, including no gambling online or in person. Jacobson had retired retired on Jan. 5, immediately after New Haven’s three assistant chiefs confronted him about stealing from a fund intended for paying confidential informants. “I have a problem,” Jacobson told them, according to a state police affidavit. “I fix my alcohol problem. I turned to gambling. I don’t know why it just got worse recently.” According to the affidavit, Jacobson had gambled over $4.4 million on the sports-betting apps DraftKings and FanDuel over the course of his final year as police chief, reaching a net loss of at least $214,000. According to the affidavit, Jacobson allegedly admitted to the assistant chiefs that he had taken $10,000 from the confidential informants fund. However, a state police investigation eventually found that Jacobson embezzled $85,500 from two separate funds. He allegedly took $81,500 from the police department’s Narcotic Enforcement Program Fund for confidential informants between Jan. 1, 2024, and Jan. 5, 2026. And he allegedly withdrew $4,000 from a Police Activity League (PAL) fund intended to support youth programming. (Jacobson served on the board of PAL, which is nonprofit that operates separately from the city.) On Feb. 20, he turned himself in for on two counts of Larceny in the First Degree by Defrauding a Public Community, in violation of state statutes § 53a-122(a)(3). He was released on a $150,000 bond. Jacobson’s arraignment was scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Friday in the ground floor courtroom. He arrived early and sat down in the middle of a section of chairs reserved for the public, where three to four others awaiting their own arraignment had joined him. For a while, the room echoed with the casual voices of lawyers, marshals, clerks, and reporters milling about. Meanwhile, the public section was all but silent. Seated alongside Jacobson were a handful of others awaiting their own hearings. One woman clasped the hand of the man seated next to her. Another man’s knees never stopped trembling. Jacobson sat still, waiting alone. At 10:10, a court marshal approached the public seats. He told the audience that the judge would be entering the courtroom soon, that they would need to turn off or silence their cell phones. At about 10:15, the judge entered, and everyone stood. Calistro informed the arraignees of their rights: “You have the right to remain silent,” to enlist an attorney, to cross-examine witnesses. He called Jacobson’s case up first. Jacobson walked to stand beside his lawyer, Gregory Cerritelli. At the desk to their left stood New Britain State’s Attorney Christian Watson, who appeared as the prosecutor. Calistro scheduled a next hearing for mid-March in the 235 Church St. courthouse, at which Jacobson will enter a plea. The judge also added new conditions for Jacobson’s pre-trial release: the former police chief must refrain from gambling online or in person, and he must not have access to the funds of an employer. Jacobson murmured his assent to these terms before the hearing concluded. He swiftly left the courtroom and descended the stairs to meet with his lawyer on the ground floor. A row of reporters lined up outside on Elm Street at the bottom of the courthouse steps. “There’s a swarm out there,” warned one lawyer passing by Jacobson and Cerritelli. “We’re aware,” Cerritelli said. The lawyer has advised Jacobson not to speak directly with the press. Cerritelli previously represented other former New Haven police officers facing criminal charges, including former Sgt. Betsy Segui. The New Haven Police Commission had followed Jacobson’s recommendation to fire Segui for her role in the paralysis of Randy Cox, and she eventually agreed to a plea deal to avoid jail time. Jacobson has “got a lot of support,” said Cerritelli of the former police chief. “I have gotten an unbelievable number of messages from people wishing the chief well.” “I know that this is tremendously stressful for anyone who finds themselves in this situation,” said Cerritelli. He called for members of the public to withhold judgment before learning the full details of the case. “I would ask for grace,” he said. Meanwhile, seven other people were scheduled to be arraigned after Jacobson in Courtroom A. Four had been arrested for driving with a suspended license. Three others had been charged with physical threatening, 6th degree larceny, and 2nd degree assault. Four of those seven people had been arrested by New Haven police. The post Arrested Ex-Police Chief Goes To Court appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less