Former Hartford Chief of Staff Granted Accelerated Rehab

Jared Kupiec, the former chief of staff to Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra, has been granted accelerated rehabilitation after driving a city vehicle more than 1,000 miles after leaving his city job.

Kupiec was arrested and charged with using a Ford Explorer without the city's permission and interfering with police.

He was in court on Thursday and was granted the special program based on the circumstances and his clean record.

Kupiec will have to pay at least $2,662 in restitution, provide 100 hours of community service and provide full disclosure to any potential employer.

He will also be under supervision for one year.

If earned, his dismissal date would be Aug. 8, 2014.

According to a police report, an officer responded to a report of damaged vehicles on Capitol Avenue on Monday, July 8 and found several cars with broken windows and other damage.

As police checked vehicle files to locate the owners, they noticed that a silver Ford Explorer was registered to the City of Hartford and had previously been assigned to Kupiec, who left his post with the city on June 21. The car was outside Kupiec's apartment, police said.

Police called his cell phone.

Kupiec first denied having possession of the car or knowing how the car ended up outside his apartment, police said.

He then told police he had turned the vehicle over to city hall, kept the keys because he was uncomfortable leaving them in the car and never heard back from city officials requesting the keys, police said.

When police interviewed city officials, they said they didn't recall Kupiec saying he had the keys.

Kupiec also told investigators he was never told he could no longer use the vehicle and admitted to using it about 12 times since leaving his job with the mayor's office, according to the warrant.

City officials denied the claim and said Kupiec had been told he could no longer  use city property.

Kupiec admitted to police that he used the car on July 7 to transport baseball players he coaches to and from playing, according to the arrest warrant, and wanted to apologize to the officer for misleading him during his investigation.

Police said the car had been driven 1,202 miles between June 13 and July 7, including a trip to Dunkin' Donuts.

The calculated the cost of operating the vehicle during the time frame is $508.50, according to police.