Windsor Locks Man Accused Of Calling In False Report

By Justin Muszynski, The Bristol Press

December 29, 2021

A Windsor Locks man has been charged with calling in a phony domestic violence incident that prompted a response from the entire shift of the police department.

Richard Cruz, 32, was arrested last week by Plainville police and charged with one felony count of first-degree falsely reporting an incident. He is free without having to post bond and is scheduled to be arraigned in New Britain Superior Court on Jan. 26.

According to the arrest warrant for Cruz, Plainville police on Aug. 29, around 10:40 p.m., received a phone call from a male reporting “we need assistance” at an address in town, claiming a man was dragging a woman up the stairs by her hair. The entire working shift of the police department responded to the residence – where officers said a woman who was previously the victim in domestic incidents lives.

The woman told police there had been no incident and that everything was fine, the warrant said. Police wrote in the document that she initially told officers she suspected the false report was made by Cruz, who she previously dated.

Days later, police reached out to the woman, who said she did not want to get involved in the matter, according to the warrant. Police played the recording of the phony domestic violence report for her, but she said she did not recognize the voice as Cruz’s, the document said.

Police noted in the warrant that the woman has been known to not cooperate with police investigations in the past.

A detective wrote in the arrest warrant that he was able to tie the phone call to Cruz using cell phone records.

When police spoke to Cruz in October, he denied making the false report. He said several females had used his phone over the summer, as well as four different males. According to the warrant, Cruz said all the men were from Hartford, but he had no further information about them, including the correct spelling of their names.

A detective wrote in the warrant that he was able to find that one of these men had died in 2013. The others, the warrant said, had no connection to the woman whose residence was the subject of the phony domestic incident.

Justin Muszynski can be reached at 860-973-1809 or jmuszynski@bristolpress.com.