WATERFORD, CONNECTICUT – A former police officer who served 18 months in prison for sharing confidential information about investigations with the targets of those investigations was charged Wednesday with violating the terms of his probation.
John Troland, 35, has been arrested twice by the Waterford police department in recent months. He was charged in connection with a domestic disturbance in January and for fifth-degree larceny in February. People on probation can face a violation of probation charge if they are arrested for another crime.
Troland turned himself in Wednesday afternoon at Vernon police headquarters and was released after posting $25,000 bail.
Waterford police charged Troland with fifth-degree larceny Feb. 2 after he allegedly stole shrubbery. He was released on $25,000 bail. He was arrested Jan. 31 on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal violation of a restraining order. He posted $5,000 bail. Both cases are pending in Superior Court in New London.
Troland was a Vernon officer for seven years. He resigned his position after his arrest in July 2005. He pleaded guilty in September 2006 to one count of interfering with an officer and computer crime. The charges Troland faced were reduced as part of a plea agreement.
Advertisement
At the time of Troland’s guilty plea, Tolland State’s Attorney Matthew Gedansky said it was lucky that no narcotics investigators or informants who aided them were injured as a result of Troland’s conduct.
Troland disclosed the identities of narcotics officers and informants to his then-girlfriend, Sherri Lane-Cheema. Lane-Cheema and her relatives then shared the information with the targets of narcotic investigations on at least seven occasions, Gedansky said.
Troland also illegally used a law enforcement database to check on people, including potential girlfriends and former boyfriends of Lane-Cheema, police said.
Vernon police investigated and built the case against Troland.
In sentencing Troland, Rockville Superior Court Judge Terence A. Sullivan told Troland he should have known that people involved with drugs have a capacity for violence and that the information he disclosed could have resulted in the killing of a colleague or informant.
“You placed some of your fellow officers in unnecessary danger because of that,” Sullivan said. He also gave the Vernon police department a black eye, the judge said.
Troland said at his sentencing that he made bad decisions, but said he did not share confidential information with Lane-Cheema. Instead, he suggested, she overheard things “and put two and two together.”
