Two of the highest-ranking civilian employees of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, including the chief financial officer, have been fired after an internal affairs investigation, and another state employee has been on paid leave since December in relation to the case.
State officials are keeping the details of the investigation and the allegations against the workers secret, even though the state police investigation concluded months ago.
Aimee Plourde, who was hired as the agency’s CFO in the summer of 2022, and Scott DeVico, who played a role in Plourde’s hiring as an executive assistant to then-DESPP Commissioner James Rovella, were both terminated in late June, according to state Comptroller’s records.
Both of them were placed on paid administrative leave in December 2023 by DESPP Commissioner Ronnell A. Higgins, who had been named to the post just a few weeks earlier.
Plourde was a 17-year state employee, earning about $140,000, when she was placed on leave. She had been a tax unit manager at the Department of Revenue Services, earning about $116,000, when she got the DESPP job in May 2022.
An employee of the Department of Administrative Services, Marybeth Bonsignore, was also placed on paid administrative leave at that time and was investigated by state police detectives.
Bonsignore, who has been a state employee for 37 years, is still on paid administrative leave while the Office of Labor Relations handles her employment case. Her salary is $146,000, according to DAS officials.
DeVico and Plourde did not respond to requests for comment. Bonsignore has hired attorney Bruce Newman of Brown, Paindiris & Scott to represent her. Newman did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
The internal affairs report has been shared with DAS officials. Agency spokesman Leigh Appleby said this week that Bonsignore’s case is still going through the labor relations process.
The Connecticut Mirror filed a request in June under the state’s Freedom of Information Act for the state police internal affairs investigation after it was completed and the two employees were disciplined, but the agency has refused to release the report.
“We are ready and eager to release the internal investigation report as soon as the disciplinary process has been completed,” DESPP Director of Communications Richard Green said last week.
Appleby cited a portion of the FOI Act exempting documents from disclosure that are the subject of ongoing litigation.
DeVico and Plourde were terminated by Higgins after he received the internal affairs investigation results in June. DeVico had been a state employee for 28 years and was earning about $153,000 when he was placed on leave.
“We have two members of the leadership team (one from Human Resources and one from Fiscal) who are on a leave of absence,” Higgins said in a statement last December when he placed DeVico and Plourde on leave.
Even though she is a DAS employee, Bonsignore was assigned to work with the human resources department at the state police when Plourde was hired.
Because she is not a state police employee, Higgins has no authority over her employment.
Instead, Bonsignore’s case has been handled through the state’s Office of Labor Relations.
“The investigation (which was jointly conducted by DESPP IA and OLR, not DAS) has been completed,” Appleby said. “However, the follow-up decisions and potential actions remain pending.”
Appleby said that Bonsignore will remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation and finalization of next steps.