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Former New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson is accused of embezzling and stealing public funds from the police department for his personal use. More specifically, he is alleged to have used those funds to pay off gambling debts.
That money was allocated to pay off confidential informants via the The Narcotics Enforcement Program fund.
Connecticut State Police claim that Jacobson wagered a combined $4.46 million in just a one-year period.
Jacobson abruptly retired last month.
A former assistant chief, he was appointed to the role of New Haven police chief in mid-2022.
Losses reportedly totaled $214,365 total between the DraftKings and FanDuel websites, both of which are regulated in Connecticut.
Jacobson, 55, of Branford, Connecticut was arrested by state police on Friday after he turned himself in at Troop E in Montville. He is charged with two counts of first-degree larceny after state investigators accused him of siphoning approximately $85,500 from the informant account and the department’s Police Activity League Fund, according to the warrant.
He was released on $150,000 bond and will be arraigned March 6 in state Superior Court in New Haven, state police said.
New Haven You Are Not Alone
Jacobson isn't the only high profile law enforcement officer charged with a gambling-related crime in the last year.
In Florida, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez was charged with racketeering and suspended from office for his alleged involvement in a “massive” illegal gambling operation that generated more than $20 million in proceeds and spanned Central Florida, state and federal officials announced back in June. He remains out on bond and has not yet entered a guilty plea. Gambling911.com had covered this story extensively.
A charging document released by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office said the case centers around a money-laundering operation through an illegal gambling house in Kissimmee known as the Fusion Social Club run by Lopez and his co-conspirators. The establishment conducted illegal lotteries while illicitly possessing slot machines as part of an operation enriching the sheriff while in office.
The U.S. Homeland Security Investigations office in Tampa, which took part in the investigation, posted video to social media of Lopez’s arrest following Uthmeier’s announcement of Lopez’ arrest. The video shows agents surrounding Lopez, dressed in his sheriff uniform, at what appears to be one of the agency’s offices. As they slap on the handcuffs, Lopez appears to ask, “What’s this about?”
The longtime lawman has been previously accused of personal indiscretions such as receiving a nude photo of a co-worker, and professional missteps including his deputies’ aggressive actions in pursuing shoplifters at a Target and killing their driver
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
