Five days after police in New Haven, Connecticut fumbled an attempt to raid his apartment on suspicion of child pornography, the former director of strategic communications for Planned Parenthood’s Southern New England (PPSNE) branch killed himself.
At the time of the raid, Tim Yergeau, 36, was working at the Long Warf Theatre.
As part of a kiddie porn investigation, the Special Victims Unit busted down the door of Yergeau’s neighbor and put Stacey Wezenter in handcuffs before coming to the conclusion that they raided the wrong apartment. Five days later, on Tuesday, Yergeau was dead, and according to the medical examiner, the cause of death was suicide.
While authorities didn’t call out Yergeau by name, New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said, “The person who died was definitely the suspect in a child pornography investigation and the person who committed suicide,” the New Haven Register reports.
Jacobson called for an internal affairs investigation into the botched raid.
“They obviously hit the wrong door,” he said.
“Unfortunately, a mistake was made,” he continued. “We feel for the woman and we’re going to do everything we can to make it right. The investigation is part of holding my department accountable and transparent”
On Facebook, Wezenter called Yergeau’s death “a sad day.”
“It’s a sad day,” she wrote on April 11. “I woke up again today to police at my door. My downstairs neighbor took his life. R.I.P. Tim Yergeau.”
At age 27, Yergeau was featured in Hartford Business’s “40 Under 40 2014” round-up.
“I’m incredibly passionate about creativity, and love the opportunity to show others the inspirational and transformative power of the arts,” he said at the time. “I like to think I make connections and build relationships, and I especially enjoy bringing innovative ideas to life—taking that exciting spark and turning it into reality.”
His goal back then was to make Harford “a better place.”
“I try every day to make the city a better place and to focus my professional and personal time on bettering the community I am proud to call home,” he said.
At Planned Parenthood, Yergeau took part in a PPSNE parking lot art and letter-writing workshop that produced “247 Love Letters To Abortion,” the Daily Mail reports.
“Tim Yergeau, director of strategic communications at PPSNE, said that the notes may become an installation at the Whitney Avenue office, or at one of PPSNE’s 14 satellite locations in Connecticut and Rhode Island,” NewHavenArts.org wrote in 2022.
In August 2022, Yergeau became the Long Wharf Theatre’s marketing and communications director, according to the New Haven Register.
“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn the developments of the last 24 hours,” the spokesperson for the theater said in a Wednesday emailed statement. “Given the difficult news, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
Two investigations into the matter remain open, Jacobson said, and until police are sure there aren’t more suspects involved, the search warrant application or details of what they found in Yergeau’s apartment will not be released.
“The state could also decide whether or not to release the warrant,” The Register reports.
Police told Wezenter that they had been surveilling Yergeau, she said, but she is skeptical.
“They literally came up to the third floor,” she said. “If they had been watching him, they would have seen my son and I coming and going.”
The entire event traumatized the shaken mother of two, who has filed a complaint against the police department.
“What if I had a gun permit? What if I came down the hallway with a gun? Would I have gotten shot? What if my 4-year-old had woken up? Would they have shot him?” she asked, adding, “You just don’t do that to people.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
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