Worker pleads guilty to theft of $32,000 worth of scrap metal

A nine-year employee of Regional Refuse Disposal District No. 1 in Barkhamsted pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than $32,000 in scrap metal from his workplace.

Neil E. Church, 43, of Winsted, likely will spend five years on probation and have to pay restitution to his former employer when he is sentenced April 7, including turning over a pension fund in his name that contains about $20,000.

Church, who appeared in Litchfield Superior Court on Friday, could have faced a maximum of 20 years in prison for the crime. Police said Church made $32,537 from selling scrap metal stolen from the dump at Albert Bros. in Water bury from April 2006 to July 2008. When questioned by police, Church expressed disbelief at how much they said he stole, claiming he thought he’d only taken about $16,000 worth.


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