Mar. 20—The criminal cases against a University of Connecticut police officer and his wife, also a UConn Police Department employee, who were charged with stalking and harassing two co-workers, have ended without convictions, online judicial records show.

CASES OVER

DEFENDANTS: Peter J. Zavickas and his wife, Tammi Zavickas, both in their mid-50s, who have lived in Colchester

CHARGES: Misdemeanor stalking and harassment charges against both; computer crime charges against Peter, including two felony counts

OUTCOME: Cases ended without convictions

The officer, Peter J. Zavickas, who is in his mid-50s and has listed an address in Colchester, was facing two counts of third-degree computer crime, a felony, as well as misdemeanor counts of stalking, harassment, and computer crime.

His wife, Tammi L. Zavickas, also in her mid-50s, was a civilian employee of the UConn Police Department. She was charged with second-degree stalking and second-degree harassment, both misdemeanors.

UConn placed both on paid administrative leave after their arrests. Attempts today to determine their employment status didn't immediately succeed.

Peter was arrested in November 2020, and Tammi in January 2021. Each was released on $25,000 bond while the cases were pending in Vernon Superior Court.

It is common in Connecticut for minor criminal cases to end without convictions, often through pretrial diversion programs, which allow dismissal of a case after a defendant takes steps toward rehabilitation.

The investigation started with anonymous letters received by high-ranking university officials alleging an inappropriate sexual relationship between two police department employees, according to an affidavit by UConn police Lt. Daniel P. Gugliotti.

The letters made "unsubstantiated accusations of professional misconduct" by the co-workers, including claims that one of them engaged in "professional favoritism" toward the other, the lieutenant wrote.

His affidavit doesn't identify the coworkers. Zavickas was a patrol officer at UConn's Avery Point campus in Groton, but the two co-workers were assigned to the university's main campus in Storrs.

In less than 13 months covered by the investigation, Zavickas spent 986 hours of work time logged onto UConn's statewide video surveillance system, with only 42 minutes spent watching video of the Avery Point campus, Gugliotti reported.

"There were no legitimate business purposes or investigative reasons for Officer Peter Zavickas to be monitoring the Storrs-based public safety cameras," he wrote.

The lieutenant wrote that Zavickas followed the co-workers' cars at times and photographed them. He did this on his own time, using surveillance techniques taught to police officers, according to the lieutenant.

The investigation determined that Tammi Zavickas was in a vehicle with her husband a number of times when they drove to the Storrs campus and covertly followed and photographed the co-workers, Tolland State's Attorney Matthew C. Gedansky said in a statement.

One of the surveillance subjects wrote in a statement, "My sleep and rest has been completely disrupted, and I do not have the ability to focus or concentrate as thoughts of this are always on my mind. I have gotten up in the middle of the night in a panic to re-lock doors I know were already locked."

The person also described changing from "a very upbeat, happy-go-lucky, gregarious, positive person" to being "suspicious of everyone."

The second surveillance subject wrote of Peter Zavickas, "When I found out he was doing this, I was shocked and in utter disbelief. The randomness and persistence of this is odd and not in alignment with someone who is thinking rationally."

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