Former police officer at Hamden Police Department has pleaded guilty to possessing anabolic steroids.
A former police officer who worked with Connecticut based Hamden Police Department, Brian Kelly has placed a guilty plea for a single count of possessing a schedule 3 controlled substance (anabolic steroids) with the intent to distribute it. Officer Kelly decided to enter the guilty plea to prevent an oncoming indictment. He did so on the 21st of May, 2018 in front of District Judge Victor Bolden. At the time that Kelly committed the crime, he was working for the Hampton Police Department in Connecticut and has since put his hands up for the crime of distributing anabolic steroids to various colleagues and friends, which included other Hamden Police Department officers. Kelly found himself being implicated after the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Connecticut State Police, and the Connecticut Statewide narcotics task force West began to investigate the situation.
During the investigation undertaken by the authorities, it was discovered that Kelly was not the only officer involved in distributing anabolic steroids to colleagues. In fact, multiple officers were discovered to be doing so with at least 2 different agencies in Connecticut being involved. An officer who worked at Bridgeport high security Correctional Center as a State Correction Officer; Nick Aurora was also discovered to be distributing controlled substances to colleagues during the same investigation. He ultimately placed a guilty plea in front of Judge Bolden on the 14th of March 2018 which mirrored the plea of Kelly. Both of the officers were connected to the same haul of more than 25,000 pills orally administered anabolic steroids and 530 vials of steroids designed for injecting. The illicit drugs were seized at an individual residence in December of 2017 as part of a court-authorized search. The source, who is still unidentified is thought to be a domestic supplier who routinely provided the two officers with anabolic steroids in various forms to redistribute to their friends and colleagues.
Forensic analysis was performed on the unidentified individuals cell phone, which allowed authorities to discover Aurora and Kelly’s involvement in distributing class 3 controlled substances. During the investigation, multiple text messages were discovered that directly linked Aurora and Kelly’s involvement in the purchasing and redistribution of anabolic steroids to their colleagues and friends, most notably those who worked within law enforcement. It is known that Kelly had been purchasing steroids from the unidentified source for a period of more than one year from October in 2016 until December in 2017. Aurora had also been purchasing steroids from the very same source during the same period of time approximately every fortnight. Since the criminal activity came to light, Kelly decided to retire from the police department while Aurora was put on administrative leave which was paid after his arrest occurred.
Whether Aurora will be able to return to the police force or not will be determined after the Connecticut Department of Corrections security division provides an outcome of its internal investigations. The United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, John Durham has made an announcement that if Aurora and Kelly are convicted, they potentially face up to 10 years of prison time and a maximum of half a million dollars in fines. The final outcome is yet to be decided and will be based on the discoveries that any further investigations produce, which could result in some serious sentencing of the officers involved in the sale and distribution of class 3 controlled substances such as the anabolic steroids that had been passed on to colleagues in the police force.