News
Attorney General calls Richard Straub case “poster child” for enacment of pension revocation
By Attorney General's office
Apr 14, 2008 - 11:08:59 PM

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said today that the case of an exstate probation officer who sexually molested his underage clients underscores the urgent need for lawmakers to pass pension revocation.

“Connecticut’s taxpayers should be outraged and appalled that they must continue paying convicted sexual predator Richard Straub nearly $50,000 a year,” Blumenthal said.

Starting in 1999, Blumenthal used the state’s cost-of-incarceration law to seize part of former state Probation Officer Richard Straub’s state pension, but he couldn’t take it all because the state has no pension revocation law. As a result of this case and others, Blumenthal has advocated pension revocation for years. Straub, who is serving a 15-year prison term, continues to draw a state pension of $4,075 a month, nearly $50,000 a year.

Blumenthal continued, “Straub is the poster child for pension revocation, a screaming example of the urgent need for legislation to strip convicted state officials of retirement benefits. For years, I fought to seize Straub’s pension, but was only partially successful, stymied by the state’s lack of a pension revocation law. If such a statute existed, Staub’s retirement benefits would have been terminated years ago, preventing him from profiting from his betrayal of his position of power and saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Straub cynically and systemically exploited his state job to molest underage boys, subjecting them to unspeakable abuse and ruining lives. His betrayal of the public trust was monumental and monstrous, an act deserving the harshest possible punishment.

“I urge the legislature to pass pension revocation, assuring any future felon like Richard Straub is denied every penny of his pension. Connecticut taxpayers should not have to support anyone who exploits public office to commit crimes.

“I will redouble my fight to pass pension revocation so that the next Richard Straub collects not a dollar of taxpayer money.”

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