Court marshal resigns amid accusations

WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) -- A Waterbury public safety official is off the job after some women complained his hugs and kisses at work wasn't appropriate.

Anthony Candido served as a court marshal and a police commissioner, but on Thursday, he resigned his post, because of the allegations.

"Tony's a hugger. You come in to that courthouse, there's a good chance that you're going to be hugged sooner or later," said Candido's attorney Hugh Keefe.

Keefe says that's all there is to it, despite claims to the contrary.  

Candido, the chief judicial marshal at the Superior Court in Waterbury, has been on administrative leave since December, amid allegations he routinely ushered young women, usually black or Hispanic, to his office and made advances toward them.  

An internal investigative report details not only specific claims from alleged victims, but one court official after another recounting the 70-year-old Candido's antics during much of his tenure as chief marshal since 2001.

• Click here to read the full report.

Keefe is staunchly denying the report's findings.

"One of the things they don't have in this report is the character of the people who are making these complaints, who are very few, by the way," he said. "But we plan to get in to that."

Keefe emphasizes the lack of complaints in all the years prior, saying once the investigation began, it quickly became a witch hunt.

"There may as well have been a sign outside headquarters in Hartford that said 'If anyone who has anything bad to say about Candido, come here and tell us,'" he said.

Even Milford Mayor Ben Blake, under whom Candido has served as Committee Chair for people with disabilities, limited his response to Candido's Thursday resignation as police commissioner, to this: "As mayor my main concern is protecting the reputation of the city. Give Mr. Candido's resignation, this is one fewer distraction for the city."

Candido's job at the courthouse isn't all he stands to lose; Connecticut State Police tell News 8 they're still investigating to decide whether criminal charges should be filed.