City man charged with threatening animal control officer

CONNECTICUT -- A New Britain man has been charged with threatening Bristol animal control officers for failing to take care of a woodpecker problem.

Dean Paradis, 55, of 124 Biruta St., New Britain, was arrested Friday after leaving a harassing voicemail in which he said, “I am done talking to everybody, and you’re a freakin’ dead man,” according to the police report.

Police said Paradis called on Thursday to report a woodpecker problem near a house on Windham Road in Bristol.

Animal control told police they initially ignored the call, thinking Paradis had contacted the wrong town when he said he was from New Britain. On Friday, Paradis left another voicemail, in which he said he was going to the mayor’s home to complain about animal control, the report said.

When animal control contacted the owner of the house Paradis was calling about, she apologized and said she had asked him not to call anymore.

Animal control then reported to police several more messages left by Paradis.

“Bad things are going to happen. I’ll take care of you and your family,” Paradis said, according to the report. “I’m an ex-Marine. I’ll chase you down the street, you piece of crap. I’ll take care of you just like I took care of my friend.”

Paradis was charged with second-degree harassment and second-degree threatening. He was arraigned in Bristol Superior Court Monday, where he was released on a promise to appear and told not to contact animal control.

Paradis’s criminal history, which court officials said goes back to 1988, includes a second-degree threatening conviction in 2007 for which he received a fully suspended sentence and two years of probation.

He  is due back in court May 5.

(New Britain Herald - April 7, 2014)