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WILTON, Conn. The Wilton Police never give up on a case, even when the offense is relatively minor. Their persistence paid off recently when they were able to track down a Stamford man wanted on a 10-year-old warrant for littering.
Dexter Williams, 52, was given a ticket back in 2002 when an officer saw him throw a KFC cup out his car window, according to the police account. He was told to pay the ticket or plead not guilty, Wilton Police Lt. Donald Wakeman said.
Williams failed to respond, and on March 24, 2003, a warrant was issued for his arrest. However, by then Williams had moved and police were unable to locate him, Wakeman said.
It was not a high-priority warrant Wakeman said, explaining why it had not been handled previously.
But a project to contact all old warrants is under way in the Wilton Police Department and Williams was located through this effort. He was contacted and turned himself, and after posting a $200 bond is due in court Feb. 16.
This is not really a formal program per se; however, it is an on-going effort by the Detective Division to research and contact persons for whom we have outstanding arrest warrants, Wakeman said. Most are for relatively minor offenses, such as not mailing in a response when issued an infractions ticket.
Wakeman added that it isnt that uncommon for a defendant to move after a warrant has been issued.
Typically there are attempts to track the person down, which at times are unsuccessful. Periodically we will revisit these arrest warrants and review various databases to determine if we can uncover a new address and/or phone number, and once we do, we then work on executing the warrant, Wakeman said.
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