<\/p>\n
An image from former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart’s Facebook page and included in a report commissioned by the city shows Stewart, her husband and child posing for a photo at her daughter’s second birthday. The report notes that some of the items in the photo are suspected of having been purchased by a city-issued credit card. The report was compiled by Crumbie Law Group on behalf of the city as the firm reviewed city operations and spending.<\/p>\n
Crumbie Law Group\/City of New Britain<\/p>\n
New Britain Mayor Bobby Sanchez, wielding a new investigation report that details former Mayor Erin Stewart’s city credit card purchases<\/a> from 2016 to 2025, said Thursday he referred allegations of fraudulent spending by his predecessor to state and federal criminal prosecutors.<\/p>\n State police were also included in the referral for criminal investigations, a New Britain spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A statement from Stewart’s campaign said it is suspending her run for governor and stepping back from public life, one day before the start of the party’s convention to choose a nominee for the November election. Stewart was, until this week, the\u00a0frontrunner for the GOP endorsement for governor in what was expected to be a closely fought August 11 primary against Sen. Ryan\u00a0Fazio, R-Greenwich.<\/p>\n She endorsed Fazio Thursday.<\/p>\n The investigation by the\u00a0Crumbie Law Group matches exact dates of Stewart’s purchases on her city-issued credit card with evidence, including photos and receipts, alleging that thousands of dollars in goods and services the city paid for were in fact for her personal use \u2013 including maternity clothing, jewelry, parties for her children and husband, expensive meals, household items and even campaign events.<\/p>\n Make CT Insider a preferred source on Google to see more of our journalism when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Among the items detailed in the report were party supplies and a toddler’s dress\u00a0for her daughter’s 2nd birthday with the theme of Peppa Pig, the cartoon character.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The 18-page document, with 55 pages of exhibits supporting the claims, comes just ahead of the Republican Party’s state convention<\/a> at Mohegan Sun. It fleshes out the same $207,076 in charges on the city’s credit card that media outlets have reported this week, starting Sunday with the\u00a0Hartford Courant<\/a> and WTNH-TV<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It is my intention not only to suspend my campaign but also to step back from public life as I do what is necessary to address these questions and make things right,” Stewart said. “I cannot change the past, but I can make the next right decision \u2013 and this is it.”<\/p>\n She added that Fazio has her “full support.”<\/p>\n ‘A pattern of behavior that violated public trust’<\/p>\n Questions will now turn to why a young political leader \u2013 Stewart just turned 39 \u2013 who fashioned a public persona as a working class reformer, a bipartisan Republican in a heavily Democratic city, would jeopardize all of that with actions that could be easily documented. She is, of course, innocent until proven guilty but her political career could now be over.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Stewart had told reporters and supporters Tuesday she was seeking copies of the monthly expense reports and would issue a public response after the convention. “If mistakes were made they will be addressed, they will be remedied and we will move forward honestly and responsibly,” she said.<\/p>\n A timeline compiled by the Crumbie Law Group details the timeframe in which former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart was making purchases with her city-owned credit card. The report shows that Stewart’s purchases align with certain family events like births and birthdays. The report was compiled by Crumbie Law Group on behalf of the city as the firm reviewed city operations and spending.<\/p>\n Crumbie Law Group\/City of New Britain A timeline compiled by the Crumbie Law Group details the timeframe in which former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart was making purchases with her city-owned credit card. The report shows that Stewart’s purchases align with certain family events like births and birthdays.<\/p>\n Crumbie Law Group\/City of New Britain<\/p>\n She called the release of the expense reports and an earlier investigation into the city’s tax collections a politically-timed “witch hunt.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But the report alleges far more than mistakes and it instantly moved the unfolding scandal from political to legal, as Stewart appears to have acknowledged by suspending her campaign and endorsing her opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The findings of this investigation point not to isolated lapses in judgment, but to a pattern of behavior that violated public trust and the standards expected of an elected official entrusted with taxpayer funds for nearly a decade,\u201d it said. “The entitlement demonstrated by Ms. Stewart reflected by the evidence in this investigation is incomprehensible for a public official.”<\/p>\n The investigation into Stewart’s credit card purchases follows an inquiry into tax collections in New Britain City Hall, also launched by Sanchez, which led to the firing of former Tax Collector Cheryl\u00a0Blogoslawski.<\/p>\n An image captured from a recently-released report shows a red dress that is suspected to have been purchased by former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart with a city-issued credit card. The report was compiled by Crumbie Law Group on behalf of the city as the firm reviewed city operations and spending.<\/p>\n Crumbie Law Group\/City of New Britain<\/p>\n That investigation also by Crumbie, cited involvement by the mayor’s office during Stewart’s 12 years in office but did not show wrongdoing by Stewart directly. It was also referred to criminal investigators.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Sanchez, in a written statement Thursday, said, “This report confirms what many feared. There is a deeply troubling pattern of abuse involving public funds… The findings outlined in this report are outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that the city “will be pursuing all appropriate legal avenues to recover taxpayer funds wherever possible, including seeking restitution from the former mayor.”<\/p>\n Even before Sanchez released the investigation Thursday, based on the expense reports, Democrats and Republicans alike were calling for Stewart to explain the charges. The new details paint a picture that would have overshadowed her campaign with questions from voters and news media.<\/p>\n The investigation into Stewart’s purchasing card, known as a\u00a0P-Card, was done as part of a broader set of inquiries by Sanchez, a Democrat who was elected in November to succeed Stewart, into discrepancies he found at city hall as he settled into the job.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n “Ms. Stewart declined to be interviewed related to this inquiry, asking instead for prepared questions to be forwarded to her. When advised that this could not be done, she ignored an additional request for an interview,” the investigation report said.<\/p>\n Several allegations in the investigation related to campaign activities may have special significance because election spending is covered by state and federal laws that require meticulous separation of funds according to their source and how they are spent.<\/p>\n A fundraiser and a blue dress<\/p>\n A total of $123,018, or 59 percent of the total charges connected with Stewart, “have no supporting documentation,” the report said. “This lack of documentation is not only a violation of the\u00a0P-Card Policy, but it also runs counter to common sense public accounting principles, the report states.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On September 26, 2017, Stewart held a campaign fundraiser for her reelection at the Hartford Club, the investigation said, showing a photocopy of her filing about the event to SEEC\u00a0alongside a receipt and bills from the Hartford Club. Stewart spent more than $19,400 at the downtown Hartford club during her tenure as mayor, according to the expense reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n “On the day of the fundraiser, the city was charged $163.03 by the Hartford Club for food and beverage, gratuity, and sales tax,” the Crumbie report said, adding, “There is no evidence that Ms. Stewart reimbursed the city for this or any other expenditure referenced herein.”<\/p>\n In another politics-related expense, the report said, Stewart’s card was charged $1,314 for two airline tickets to Washington DC for herself and John Healey, her former chief of staff and later campaign manager. Soon after, in a speech to Connecticut Republicans, she said the trip was to support a Trump executive order favoring mining and burning coal, “and to get endorsed by President Trump for her current campaign.”<\/p>\n She did not receive an endorsement from the president. Healey did not return a call seeking comment Thursday. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In other examples, the investigation cited audio equipment purchases, clothing, jewelry and party supplies.<\/p>\n An image from a recently-released report shows a cake and photo of former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, her husband and child at a birthday party. The cake is suspected to have been purchased on a city-issued credit card. The report was compiled by Crumbie Law Group on behalf of the city as the firm reviewed city operations and spending.<\/p>\n Crumbie Law Group\/City of New Britain Stewart is shown wearing the dress in a photo on a couch in a TV studio with WTNH anchor Dennis House. Similarly, the Crumbie report shows Stewart wearing a red dress that same summer at what appears to be a social event, alongside an online ad for the identical dress and a reference to Stewart’s expense report for it three months earlier.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n An image captured from a recently-released report shows a red dress that is suspected to have been purchased by former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart with a city-issued credit card. The report was compiled by\u00a0Crumbie Law Group on behalf of the city as the firm reviewed city operations and spending.<\/p>\n Crumbie Law Group\/City of New Britain<\/p>\n Stewart reimbursed the city a total of $1,928.99 on four dates between March 2018 and April 2020 for unspecified items, none among the examples in the report, the investigation said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The report noted the total was an “insignificant” share of the total charges. “Additionally, the very existence of these reimbursements reinforces the notion that Ms. Stewart knew that the city was entitled to reimbursement for charges wrongfully charged to her city-issued credit card. No other reimbursements to the city by Ms. Stewart were found.”<\/p>\n An image captured from a recently-released report shows pieces of audio equipment suspected to have been purchased by former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart on a city-issued credit card. The microphone could not be located after a search of the office, according to the report. The report was compiled by Crumbie Law Group on behalf of the city as the firm reviewed city operations and spending.<\/p>\n Crumbie Law Group\/City of New Britain<\/p>\n Thoughout city expense reports, the investigation claims, “budget line items typically used to disguise purchases of personal items with Ms.\u00a0 Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It concludes, “While various aspects of this investigation are ongoing, the findings discussed in this report establish a clear and consistent pattern of Ms. Stewart misusing her P-Card in blatant violation of city policies.\u00a0This conduct represents a breach of public trust and raises serious concerns regarding accountability, oversight, and ethical leadership.”<\/p>\n This column is developing and will be updated.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image from former New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart’s Facebook page and included in a report commissioned by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7811,7812,8,9,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-28711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-all-daily-sites","9":"tag-ct-insider","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116574364884920599","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n“On February 7, 2025, Ms. Stewart\u2019s\u00a0P-Card was also used to purchase a \u201cDJI Mic 2, Wireless Lavaller Microphone, Noise Cancelling\u2026through Amazon at a cost of more than $300,” the investigation said. The report shows images of the item in an Amazon listing, and the same microphone in “snapshots from videos posted on Ms. Stewart\u2019s Instagram account on March 14, 2025, shortly after the DJI Mic 2 was purchased, and March 2, 2026, where she appears to be using a DJI Mic 2 for a video related to her current campaign long after her time as mayor had ended.
\nA blue dress makes an appearance in the report. “On July 9, 2023, Ms. Stewart used her city-issued credit card to purchase a blue maternity dress, specifically the “KOJOOIN Maternity Ruffle Halter Neck Dress Summer Casual Boho Sleeeveless High Waisted Flowy Midi Dress Photoshoot Baby Shower Blue L,” on Amazon,” the report said. “Two months later, on Sept.12, 2023, Ms. Stewart can be seen wearing an identical dress on a tv program.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stewart\u2019s P-Card were \u201cMISC OFFICE SUPPLIES\u201d or MISC EXPENSE INCURRED IN THE ADMIN. OF THE OFFICE.” The actual spending in these categories almost always exceeded the Mayor\u2019s Office budget for the years reviewed.”<\/p>\n