BEDFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – A second police officer charged with stealing a vest last May from Brian
Blackden’s North State Street pepper spray supply shop died at his home May 11,
the day the complaints were filed in court.
Gary Norton, a 48-year-old Bedford police sergeant, had
not yet been issued a summons for the misdemeanor theft charge, Concord police
Lt. Timothy O’Malley said yesterday.
O’Malley said he couldn’t comment on Norton’s cause of
death, but Assistant Safety Commissioner Earl Sweeney confirmed the sergeant’s
death was a suicide, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Sweeney did not return calls for comment yesterday, and
neither did Bedford police Chief John Bryfonski. An obituary published in the
Union Leader yesterday said Norton, who worked for the Bedford police for 15
years, died at his home May 11.
Norton and Hill police Sgt. Jonathan Evans, 56, were
charged with theft by unauthorized taking for allegedly stealing a vest last
May from Blackden’s store at 485 N. State St., where Blackden says he was
robbed and threatened by five members of a police motorcycle club.
The complaints, which were signed by the Concord police
and filed in Concord’s district court, don’t provide any description of the
incident beyond the allegations that Norton and Evans took a vest that belonged
to Blackden. O’Malley has directed questions to the Cheshire County Attorney’s
Office, where he said the case was transferred because of possible conflicts of
interest.
The assistant Cheshire County attorney handling the case,
John Webb, did not return calls for comment.
Blackden said he was robbed by men who belonged to the
Road Dawgs, a motorcycle club for active and retired officers. The men, who
were wearing the club’s colors, took the vest because they believed it belonged
to them, Blackden said.
Evans said Thursday that he had been a member of the Road
Dawgs but resigned from the club last year. He didn’t comment further on the
allegations but said he “didn’t break the law doing anything of that nature.”
Evans’s employment status hasn’t changed since he was
charged, and Chief David Kranz said he and the selectmen were confident Evans
“had no wrongdoing in the incident.” He is due in court June 18.