The Connecticut Department of Correction has fired a fourth prison officer because of suspicions he associated with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club.
Correction officer Mark Vincenzo, 47, was accused of attending a soup kitchen fund-raiser sponsored in part by the Outlaws.
Vincenzo is not a member of the club, but had been disciplined for associating it. He said he did not attend the fund-raiser, but the adjacent bar after it was over.
He is the fourth officer in a year to be fired on suspicions of associating the club. State prosecutors have said they have concerns that association with the group poses security risks inside the prisons, including the possibility of inciting tension between gangs. Members have said it is a social club.
Vincenzo said he was fired because of "selective persecution."
"They have an over-broad directive that they're using as they see fit," he said. "They'll target who they wish to target and leave others out."
Vincenzo, who has been on administrative leave for nearly seven months while the department investigated his association with the club, said he asked the correction department for permission to attend the fund-raiser this summer.
In a letter, Commissioner Theresa Lantz said he should avoid it, because "we understand that the Outlaw Motorcycle Club has been deemed a criminal enterprise" and that his attendance would be "inconsistent" with the department's policies. Vincenzo said he obeyed. When he got out of work that day, he said he went to join his girlfriend, brother and some other friends, none of whom were members. Some Outlaws were still there, he said, and he greeted them.
A department spokesman said Monday Vincenzo was found to be "less than truthful when questioned about his association with the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, despite being warned in advance that his attendance would be inconsistent with departmental objectives."