Crime & Safety
Stafford Landlord Charged With Criminal Lockout
A dispute over rising rent led to the arrest of a landlord in Stafford, a warrant shows.
STAFFORD, CT — A Stafford landlord has been charged with criminal lockout for changing the locks on a tenant who claimed to have been moving out amid a rent dispute, a warrant shows.
The landlord, a 61-year-old Newington resident, is due in court on Sept. 12 after being served a warrant last week, state police said.
According to a warrant, the tenant reported the lockout in early August. The 56-year-old tenant said he was friends with the landlord and had been living at an East Street home with a verbal agreement. He claimed the landlord continually raised the rent — eventually without proper notice — and admitted to withholding July's payment over the dispute and began moving out.
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The tenant claimed the landlord then blocked a camper with wood piles and then changed the locks while putting up no trespassing signs before his move-out was complete.
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