Josh Zarbo appeared in court on Tuesday after allegedly using a police database to manage a woman’s license plate and follow her on Instagram.
OLD SAYBROOK, Conn. – The Former Saybrook Police Officer who was arrested earlier this month for allegedly harassing a woman using a police database appeared in court on Tuesday.
Patrolman Josh Zarbo has been placed on administrative leave and his law enforcement authority removed after police opened two investigations – one administrative and one criminal – into the allegations.
The officer was accused of illegally accessing the Connecticut law enforcement online teleprocessing system to obtain information about a woman he saw in a parking lot.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges in Middlesex Superior Court on Tuesday.
According to the arrest warrant, Zarbo was working as a security guard at a Walmart during Black Friday when he allegedly saw two women shopping on the shore. When the two women got into their vehicle, Zarbo radioed to send the license plate.
Zarbo then searched for the woman and added her on Instagram.
A friend of the woman heard her name on the scanner and contacted her via text to let her know her license plate was working.
“I was surprised by this, but I know my plate can be tripped for any reason, so it didn’t really alarm me,” the woman told police, according to the arrest warrant. . “I thought maybe the police were directing players in the parking lot to make sure no one at Walmart was stealing.”
The woman told police she then received an Instagram follow request from a “Josh Zarbo”, whom she did not know and did not remember meeting. A mutual friend told him that Zarbo was a policeman from Old Saybrook.
“It was clear to me that he got my name by running off my plate,” the woman told police. “If he had just asked me, I would have given it to him.”
Zarbo told police he checked the license plate because the two women appeared suspicious, according to the warrant.
He said the name sounded familiar and it was later that he looked her up on social media and noticed they had several mutual friends. He sent the Instagram request afterwards.
According to the arrest warrant, Zarbo requested that the license plate be executed via text message to an Old Saybrook dispatcher on his home phone before making the request over the radio. Police said it was not standard department procedure.
Police say it took Zarbo, who denied writing down the number, more than 17 minutes from when the woman’s car drove away from the store to when he asked to operate his plate.
Other than the Instagram request, there was no further contact between Zarbo and the victim.
Old Saybrook Police have charged Zarbos with third-degree computer felony, which is a class D felony, for illegally accessing the Connecticut Law Enforcement Online Teleprocessing System (COLLECT) for personal reasons. .
Zarbo has been an officer with the police department since December 2017. His next court date is Feb. 2. 7, 2023.
Jareliz Diaz is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jdiaz@fox61.com
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