Tolland High School Coach Charged In Months-Old Gym Theft Case

TOLLAND, CT — An indoor track coach at Tolland High School was arrested this week on a nearly 29-month-old warrant from a theft incident inside a University of Connecticut gym locker room, state police records show.

Obinna Nwafor, 28, who, according to records, lived in Manchester at the time of the 2015 incident but who now lives in West Hartford, was charged with failure to appear on eight counts of sixth-degree larceny on Feb. 5, according to an arrest report.

According to state police dispatch records, troopers went to Tolland High School that day to investigate a "suspicious incident." State police said nothing criminal was uncovered, but, while at THS, the warrant on Nwafor was discovered and he was taken to Rockville Superior Court to be formally charged.

Tolland school system administrators identified Nwafor as an indoor track coach. Superintendent of Schools Walter Willett said he has been placed on administrative leave, pending "due process" amid an investigation. State police on Thursday stressed that he was not charged for any wrongdoing at THS.

The outstanding larceny charges against Nwafor stem from a September 2015 incident in which he is accused of sneaking around UConn's Hugh Greer Field House and rummaging through gym bags and wallets, according to an arrest report. The field house used to house intercollegiate sports contests but is now used as a recreation center.

He was charged by UConn police in June 2016 with the eight larceny counts and made two court appearances, a clerk at Rockville Superior Court said. He then missed a pair of court appearances and a re-arrest warrant was issued in September 2016, a clerk said.

Photo Credit: CSP

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