'Person of Interest' in Darien Cop Killing Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges

A man who was a person of interest in the 1981 shooting death of Darien Police Officer Kenneth Bateman pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in federal court.

Anthony Sabato, 57, of West Haven pleaded guilty on July 6 to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 280 grams or more of crack cocaine.

He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum term of life and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 30.

Sabato conspired to distribute crack cocaine between March 2013 and March 2015. He was arrested in March.

In 2004, Sabato was publicly named as a person of interest in the unsolved killing of Kenneth E. Bateman Jr., who was gunned down on May 31, 1981.

In 2011, Sabato was arrested (in an unrelated case) at his home in West Haven by Wallingford police on a third-degree assault charge.