Newport Police chief accused of coverup, charged with felony

Xerxes Wilson , Xerxes Wilson | The News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Newport police chief charged with felony The longtime chief of Newport Police was indicted on a felony charge on Monday. 6/6/18

The Newport Police Chief faces a felony count of evidence tampering after being accused of crashing his police vehicle into a vehicle in the department's parking lot, failing to report the damage and attempting to cover up the evidence.

Michael Capriglione, who has been the town's chief for nearly four decades and was longtime chair of the Delaware Police Chiefs' Council, was indicted by a New Castle County Grand Jury earlier this week on charges of official misconduct, tampering with physical evidence, careless or inattentive driving and failure to provide information at the scene of a collision.

Details about the incident are sparse in the two-page indictment.

In a written statement, Department of Justice Spokesman Carl Kanefsky said Capriglione, 62, is accused of striking and damaging another vehicle in the police department parking lot on May 19, failing to report the collision to the owner or any authority before taking "additional steps to avoid detection."

He declined to comment on what those additional steps were.

The indictment document accuses Capriglione of using his police status inappropriately. It claims he sought to prevent the use of "certain surveillance video" by its alteration, destruction or concealment or by employing force, intimidation or deception against another person.

State Police investigated the incident and subsequent tampering allegation along with the Department of Justice Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust, Kanefsky said.

It is unclear whether Capriglione struck another police vehicle and whether that vehicle was parked or occupied.

When reached by phone Wednesday, State Police Spokesman Richard Bratz declined to provide details and directed questions to the Department of Justice, which declined to provide further detail about the crash.

"They said I did something. I have no idea," said Capriglione when reached by phone. "You’ll have to talk to my lawyer."

He declined further comment.

James Liguori, his attorney, declined to comment specifically on the charges against his client.

"It involves the issues of a motor-vehicle matter. That is all I will tell you," Liguori said. "The state was very nice to let us know (about the indictment) ahead of time and we are going to voluntarily surrender."

Michael Spencer, Newport's mayor, said Capriglione was put on paid suspension around May 25 while the investigation was underway and declined further comment.

"Really, that's as far as we can go right now," Spencer said.

The charges of official misconduct and failure to provide information at the scene of a crash are misdemeanors. The inattentive driving charge is a lesser violation.

The most serious charge faced by Capriglione is the tampering with physical evidence, which is a felony that carries a sentence of up to two years in jail.

Capriglione became police chief in 1983. In addition to his post with the Delaware Police Chiefs' Council, Capriglione has also been an influential figure in New Castle County's Checkpoint Strikeforce Taskforce.

In 1999, he was charged with assault after being accused of beating his wife during an argument. Arrest records state that police noted bruises on his wife's cheek, arm and side. His wife subsequently sought a protection from abuse order.

She later dropped that petition and wrote to then-Attorney General Jane Brady that she would not testify in the case and had not been battered.

She later said her husband should have never been arrested and accused New Castle County Police of intimidating her during the investigation, a claim the then-chief denied.

That case against Capriglione was eventually dropped and is no longer part of court records, which means it was likely expunged.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.

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