Trumbull Police Officer Charged with Sexual Assault

Trumbull Police Officer William Ruscoe has been charged by state police with three counts of sexual assault involving a member of an Explorer scout program at the department.

"Due to the nature of these criminal charges, Officer Ruscoe has been suspended from duty, and an internal investigation is underway to determine if he has violate any departmental policies or regulations," Trumbull police said in a news release.

State police from the Tolland barracks at 9 p.m. Monday charged Ruscoe, 44, with second-, third- and fourth-degree sexual assault and with tampering with a witness. Ruscoe was initially held on a $50,000 bond. He was released after posting the bond, according to NBC Connecticut.

Ruscoe, a 19-year veteran of the department who joined it in June 1994, has served as an advisor with the Explorer program for several years, according to the town police news release.

"I am deeply troubled and concerned by the nature of the charges that have been presented," said Trumbull Police Chief Thomas Kiely in the news release. "We will make every effort to ensure that the integrity of the department and its officers is preserved as this case is investigated, and that the case is handled in a fair and timely manner."

The investigation and arrest was entirely handled by state police, said Trumbull Deputy Police Chief Michael Harry. "We haven't even seen the contents of the arrest warrant."

Criminal investigations of police officers are typically handled by other police agencies.

Ruscoe hadn't been in any kind of trouble with his department until Monday's arrest, Harry said.

Ruscoe received a Medal of Excellent Arrest from his department last August, according to the minutes of the Police Commission meeting (page 5). In that case he had arrested people outside a shopping mall, some of whom were in possession of at total of 53 fraudulent credit cards.

Correction: This article mentioned a coincidental arrest of another Trumbull man, a police officer in another department, and said that arrest had taken place last week. That's incorrect: The arrest took place in February of another year.