Broad Brook Resident Charged With Assault on Federal Official

Broad Brook resident Richard Covill, 52, was arrested Thursday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with assaulting a federal official engaged in the performance of her official duties, 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.

As alleged in the criminal complaint, on October 18, at about 7:45 a.m., Covill, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service, approached his former supervisor in her office at the U.S. Post Office on Weston Road in Hartford and confronted her about his inability to regain his job after being terminated.

Covill’s former supervisor asked Covill to leave, and when his former supervisor turned around, Covill shoved her from behind, causing her to strike her head against the front of her desk. 

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

Covill’s former supervisor was transported to a local hospital and was treated for a laceration on her forehead, which required stitches to close the wound.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to prosecuting assaults on federal employees engaged in the performance of their official duties,” Fein said in a release.
 
“The Postal Inspection Service considers the protection of postal employees to be its top priority,” Bethel said.  “All assaults or threats against employees will be aggressively investigated with criminal charges initiated when possible.”
 
Covill, co-chairman of the East Windsor Economic Development Commission and a candidate for board of finance alternate, has been detained since October 18 when he was arrested by Hartford Police on state assault, trespass, disorderly conduct and threatening charges.

Following his federal arrest Thursday, Covill appeared United States Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith in Hartford. If convicted of the charge of assaulting a federal official, Covill faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000, officials said.
 
Fein said that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case is being 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.