Broad Brook Resident Pleads Guilty To Assaulting A Federal Official

A 52-year-old Broad Brook resident faces up to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to assaulting the Hartford Postmaster in October.

 Richard Covill pleaded guilty to one count of assault of a federal official before United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport, David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Robert Bethel, Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division, announced.

  According to court documents and statements made in court, on October 18, Covill, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service, traveled to the Hartford Processing and Distribution Center, located at 141 Weston Road in Hartford, parked in the parking lot, entered a restricted elevator and traveled up to the third floor. 

Covill then approached the office of the Hartford Postmaster and began talking to her.  The postmaster asked Covill to leave and then turned around toward her office.

Covill then forcibly pushed the postmaster from behind, causing her to fall forward and strike her head against her desk and knock over a chair. The postmaster was transported to a local hospital and was treated for a laceration on her forehead, which required stitches to close the wound.

Covill then told the victim “You’ll be sorry,” and left the building.

Covill, who was co-chairman of the East Windsor Economic Development Commission and an unsuccessful candidate for board of finance alternate, has been detained since Hartford police arrested him on October 18. Underhill has scheduled sentencing for April 18, at which time Covill faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

This case has been investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Hartford Police Department, with the assistance of the East Windsor Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth A. Latif.