By Aaron Leo
The Connecticut Post
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Two of 29 cadets training to become city firefighters have felony convictions, but the city is prohibited from excluding them under Civil Service Commission policies.
One of the cadets is James Bulerin Jr., 29, who was convicted of first- and third-degree larceny in 1999, and given a one-year suspended sentence with two years of probation. Bulerin had been arrested in 1996, with a teenager in the Westfield Trumbull mall, when police noticed their car had a damaged door lock.
He has had no further legal problems, according to Ralph Jacobs, the city’s personnel director.
Bulerin could not be reached for comment.
The other cadet, Eduardo Valderrama, 40, was arrested on two counts of conspiracy and sale of cocaine in 1986, and served four years in prison after being convicted on those charges, according to civil service records.
He later co-owned and managed two businesses here, Park Avenue Splash & Wax and Silverstone Cleaning, his civil service application shows.
Valderrama’s lawyer, John R. Gulash, left a message for his client that was not immediately returned.
But Gulash said he is pleased his client is moving forward with his life.
The latest recruits come after Earl King Jr., who was convicted of bagging crack cocaine for the Adrian and Russell Peeler drug gang, finished his recruit training and became a firefighter in November. King served time in a work camp in exchange for testifying against the Peelers. A jury later sentenced Russell Peeler to the death penalty for ordering the murders of an 8-year-old witness and his mother in 1999.
After his release, King earned a college degree and held several city jobs, one involving children.
Fire Chief Brian Rooney, the Board of Fire Commissioners and Jacobs had opposed hiring felons, but the city’s Civil Service Commission placed them on the hiring list after those candidates appealed.
Jacobs and Rooney have said they must accept the commission’s action, because no state law or Bridgeport ordinance bars ex-felons from being firefighters.
Stuart Rosenberg, president of the fire board and a board member for more than 20 years, agreed.
“Based on the civil service ruling, that’s permissible and hopefully these candidates work out to be fine firefighters,” he said.
The others in the latest firefighter class are: Lamont Jones; Jacob Hall; Sharon Hanford; Miguel Nieves Jr.; Peter Spinelli Jr.; Mark Bryant; Michael DeFranzo; Maria Coyne; David Greene; Thomas Dunleavy; Angel Marcano; Arnaldo Torres; Patrick Burlison; Darnell Means; David Lenart; Stacy Callands; Michel Baik; Ronald Cannon; Selma Burgos; Anthony Greene; Jimmie Jones; Daniel Russo; Mario Echford; Alexis Alfaro; Calvin Williams; Eric Resko, and Maurice Barnes.
They must undergo 15 weeks of training.
The last class had 16 candidates, and a class sworn in June 2006 had 13. If all 29 of the candidates make it through training, they will join a department of 322 firefighters, said Michael Giannotti, the department’s spokesman.
The latest class has 10 white men and one white woman, 10 black men and six Hispanic men and two Hispanic women. The oldest candidate is 29 and the youngest is 24, Giannotti said.
Meanwhile, efforts to enact a city ordinance or state law barring former felons from becoming firefighters have failed.
State law allows the hiring of former felons for public jobs on a case-by-case basis, accounting for the time since the offense and its severity. However, they can’t be police officers because state law bars them from carrying firearms.
Ads for the city’s firefighter entrance exam since 1936 had stated that people with felony convictions would not be hired, but Jacobs scrapped that in 2005 because it could not be enforced.
Copyright 2007 Connecticut Post
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News