Community Corner

Mother of Accused Teen Charged in Tampering With Evidence in Stabbing Case

Police said Karie Arroyo hid a safe belonging to one of her sons in an effort to prevent them from getting into any further trouble.


A third and final arrest has been made in connection with a bizarre August stabbing that police said unveiled a robbery plot between two brothers and an effort by their mother to keep the two from getting into further trouble.

Police said Tuesday that after learning of an August stabbing in which 19-year-old Javier Arroyo allegedly used a knife to rob a Bristol woman, his 38-year-old mother Karie Arroyo removed a safe from the house so it would not be found during a related search.

“It came up during later investigations that the safe had been in the home and may have contained evidence inside,” said Sgt. Lowell DePalma. “This will be the last arrest in this case.”

Officers took Karie Arroyo, of 125 Howard Ave., into custody late last week at her Southington home. She was charged with tampering with evidence and interfering with police and released after posting a $75,000 bond, according to staff in the criminal clerk’s office at Bristol Superior Court.

The case appeared to start as a simple knife robbery on Aug. 11, 2011, when police said after taking an envelope with an undisclosed amount of money in it. The woman was taken to the Hospital of Central Connecticut, Bradley Campus, with injuries to the hand and was released after receiving treatment.

Arroyo was arraigned following the incident in August, according to court records, and is currently incarcerated at the Hartford Correctional Center, according to online documents from the state Department of Correction.

As officers began investigating the case, however, further details emerged which would lead to the arrest of Arroyo’s family members.

DePalma said a subsequent investigation into the incident revealed that while Arroyo committed the robbery, it was an act that was set up not by Arroyo but rather one devised by his brother, Kendall Sciola, .

“Sciola made a call to the woman asking her to help him out and pick up his brother,” DePalma said. “When she agreed, he let his brother know she would have money on her and set up the theft.”

Sciola is also facing drug charges in the incident after police found “a controlled substance” and drug paraphernalia in his room while conducting a search at the Howard Avenue apartment following the August stabbing.

Police said the missing safe belonged to Sciola, but was removed from the home by Karie Arroyo before police could search it. Police reports did not indicate whether the safe or its contents were ever located and how they were related to the case.

Karie Arroyo is due in Bristol Superior Court for arraignment on Jan. 9, according to court documents.


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