By Esteban Hernandez
Register Staff
BRANFORD >> An Instagram account found earlier this month requesting photos of middle school girls has reignited a conversation about how parents and school officials help students stay safe online.
According to the website Branford Seven, the Instagram page, which since has been taken down, was called “BranfordWhores” and was sharing and requesting images of girls attending Walsh Intermediate School during the first week of March.
Branford Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez said that the district isn’t actively doing anything with the page since it has been deleted, but he added that the matter is being “monitored” by school faculty. The page didn’t contain any nudity, Hernandez said, as it appeared problematic because of its language.

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By Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
Register Correspondent
SEYMOUR >> Sexting, cyber-bullying, video chats, geo-tagging, talking to strangers online….what’s a parent to do these days to keep their kids safe while using the Internet?
Well, Scott Driscoll, a retired police officer and owner of Internet Safety Concepts, showed about 50 parents Wednesday that while the Internet is an amazing information tool, it can also be a very scary and dangerous place for kids when improperly used.
Driscoll boasts 20+ years in law enforcement, and was tapped by the FBI in 2003 to head-up a task force aimed at catching online predators. Posing as a 13-year-old girl, Driscoll assisted in the arrests of numerous “bad guys” out to harm unassuming children.

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 Hunter Pageau. Register photo - Kate Ramunni

By Kate Ramunni
Register Staff
NORTH HAVEN >> There are no foundations, no telethons, no support groups for Spinal Muscular Atrophy with Respiratory Distress.
That’s because there’s only about seven dozen people in the world who have it. But 9-year-old Hunter Pageau isn’t letting that stop him from spreading the word about his incredibly rare condition.
It affects less than 10 people in the country and about 80 worldwide, his mother Sharon said, and Hunter is the only person in Connecticut who has it. But from his attitude, you would never think there’s anything wrong with him.
“I’m not hopeless and helpless. I’m hopeful and helpful,” the articulate fourth-grader says. Because of paralysis, he zips around in an electric wheelchair he operates himself, and he’s also connected to a ventilator, but that hasn’t dampened his spirits or decreased his desire to spread his message: never give up.

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By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
NEW HAVEN >> A Branford man who drove drunk and crashed his vehicle, killing his wife, has decided to accept a new plea offer which would mean more time behind bars — two years — rather than go to trial.
Vincent Mauro, 32, appeared before Superior Court Judge Patrick Clifford Wednesday and entered a no contest plea to second-degree manslaughter with a motor vehicle.
Under the latest plea agreement, Mauro will be sentenced April 17 to serve two years. This would be followed by five years of probation, and if Mauro were to violate the conditions, he would then risk having to serve another six years, for a total of eight years, in prison.

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By Register Staff
NEW HAVEN >> A Waterbury man was arrested early Monday, accused of raping a woman at gunpoint after meeting her through a dating app, police said.
City police spokesman Officer David Hartman said officers were dispatched to a home in the 100 block of Edgewood Avenue at 1:50 a.m. Monday after a 22-year-old woman reported that she had been assaulted by a man she met through a dating app called “Tagged.”
The woman, who lives in Massachusetts, told police that Timothy Turner Jr., 26, had invited her to the home after the two had corresponded through the app. She told police that she went inside with Turner and as she was being led upstairs, he pulled out a gun and assaulted her on the second-floor landing, Hartman said in a release.

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By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo
NEW HAVEN >> After the man who set fire to a Wolcott Street home in 2011, killing three people, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, the victims’ loved ones stood outside the courthouse and said, “We got justice.”
U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton imposed the sentence on Hector “Boom Boom” Natal, 29, of New Haven. A jury in 2013 convicted Natal of setting the fire, allegedly in retaliation for another tenant’s failure to pay a drug debt.

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By Viktoria Sundqvist
Middletown Press
MIDDLETOWN >> A local service organization is looking to help the family whose home was destroyed by fire over the weekend.

Two women died early Saturday when fire broke out in a Barbara Road home, but the husband of one of the women escaped and their son, about 7, happened to be out at a sleepover and also survived, said Middletown Fire Chief Robert Kronenberger.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles in Middletown is now seeking to help Brent Micale and his family, president Janet Martin said.

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