Former Planned Parenthood staffer commits suicide five days after botched child pornography raid

The former director of strategic communications for the Southern New England branch of Planned Parenthood took his own life — five days after a botched police raid on his apartment building related to a child pornography investigation.

Investigators broke down the door of Tim Yergeau’s neighbor in New Haven, Connecticut and handcuffed her before realizing they had entered the wrong apartment.

“The person who died was definitely the suspect in a child pornography investigation and the person who killed himself,” New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson told police. New Port Register.

Yergeau appeared to post regularly on social media until December 2022. Photos of his godchildren, family, friends and work events reveal the 36-year-old’s life in the months leading up to his death.

Jacobson requested an internal affairs investigation after members of the Special Victims Unit “apparently touched the wrong door.” The investigation will also examine how Yergeau took his own life after the raid.

“Unfortunately, a mistake was made,” Jacobson said. “We feel for the woman and we will do everything we can to make it right.”

“The investigation is part of keeping my department accountable and transparent.”

Jacobson declined to confirm whether Yergeau was the suspect in the child pornography investigation, but Yergeau’s neighbor and the state’s Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner both confirmed he died Tuesday morning. The coroner also confirmed that Yergeau died by suicide.

In August 2022, Yergeau was hired as marketing and communications director of the Long Wharf Theater, according to the organization’s website.

Photos on his Instagram show a behind-the-scenes look at the job in the few weeks after he started the job.

“We are shocked and deeply saddened by the developments of the past 24 hours,” a spokesperson for the theater said in an email to the outlet on Wednesday.

“Given the difficult news, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

During his time at Planned Parenthood, Yergeau was part of an art making and writing workshop in the parking lot of PPSNE – writing 247 ‘love letters’ to abortion.

He said at the time of the event that the notes could become an installation in the Whitney Avenue office, or one of PPSNE’s 14 satellite locations in Connecticut and Rhode Island.

In an interview with Hartford affairsYergeau, then 27, said he had spent his entire career in art, raising money and advocating for art.

Speaking about how he makes professional connections, he remarked, “I try to be as authentic as possible – I think everyone is constantly overstimulated, oversold, overworked – so I try to be candid and honest, to find out points of agreement, and be clear about my values.”

In sharing what he would like his legacy to be, he said, “I think it’s a little too early to think about a lasting legacy.

“I like to make people laugh and make them think. I love hearing people say, “He was funny” and “He always had something thoughtful to share.”

Jacobson said two investigations into the case are still ongoing and police will not release the search warrant request or information about what was found in Yergeau’s apartment until they are sure no one else is involved in the case. is.

The state can also decide whether or not to release the warrant.

Stacey Wezenter, Yergeau’s neighbor, said she was traumatized when officers broke down her door and handcuffed her before realizing they had the wrong apartment on April 6.

“Every time I walk down my hallway, I relive it,” said Wezenter, whose two children, ages 20 and 4, were at home when police burst in.

What if I had a gun permit? What if I came down the hall with a gun? Would I have been shot?

What if my four-year-old had woken up? Would they have shot him?’ Wezenter said Wednesday. “You just don’t do that to people.”

Wezenter heard a bang around 6 a.m. when she realized police had kicked in her door and were searching her apartment with guns drawn, she said.

“I started running down the hallway, it was like a movie. They had guns and flashlights pointed at me,” said Wezenter.

“They put me against the wall and handcuffed me. I cried and said, ‘What’s going on? ”

Wezenter heard the officers shouting ‘clear, clear’ every time they entered a room, and they kept asking her where the man was, she recalls.

“I was like, ‘Which guy? I’m here with my kids,” she said. “They asked, ‘Who is Tim? ‘ and I said that’s my neighbor downstairs.’

When they saw her son’s toys, they realized they were in the wrong place, she explained to the point of sale.

The officers said they had been monitoring her neighbor, who was the focus of an investigation, she added.

“They literally reached the third floor. If they had been watching him, they would have seen my son and me come and go,” she said.

Wezenter has since filed a complaint, saying police tried to put her in touch with mental health services, but she refused.

“I was going to go there and talk to him,” she said of her neighbor, before realizing he had killed himself.

“I thought a little act of compassion might help.”