Bond Set at More Than $500,000 for Man Charged by West Hartford Police

A New Britain man with a lengthy arrest record has turned several promises to appear in court into $550,000 worth of bonds after his arrest in West Hartford Wednesday, police said.

Benjamin DePaolis, 32, of 32 Park Pl., Apt. 6, New Britain, was picked up in West Hartford on Wednesday afternoon. Police learned that DePaolis had several re-arrest warrants outstanding, and had failed to appear in court as scheduled, West Hartford Police Lt. Frank Fallon said.

This time, the judge set DePaolis' bond at $500,000 for one of the failure to appear charges, and $25,000 each for two others, for a combined bond of $550,000.

Most of the previous charges were motor vehicle incidents, Fallon said, but he said DePaolis has been arrested multiple times by West Hartford Police. One of the charges was a violation of probation for a Hartford case, Fallon said.

On in an unusual incident in which he was a passenger in a 64-year-old woman's stolen car being driven by his father, Dean DePaolis. The car had allegedly been stolen in Newington, and two sons of the victim were tracking the vehicle when police finally surrounded the car and arrested both DePaolis men at the CVS in Elmwood.

In 2006, Benjamin DePaolis pleaded guilty to accessory to first-degree robbery with a firearm and was ordered to serve four years of a 10-year jail sentence, according to court records.

DePaolis' next court date is Jan. 24.