ANSONIA MUST PAY LAWYER IN DRUG CASE

The Ansonia Board of Education has been ordered by a federal judge to
pay $17,902 in legal fees and another $1,294 in court costs to a
Bridgeport lawyer who successfully overturned the expulsion of a
former high school football player arrested on a marijuana charge
after school.

U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall awarded the payments to Gary
Mastronardi, a former FBI agent turned lawyer, for his representation
of Tristan Roberts, a 17-year-old Ansonia High School junior, and his
mother, Paulette Bolling, last fall.

Michelle Laubin, a Milford lawyer representing the school system,
challenged both the system's liability for legal fees and the $400 per
hour Mastronardi requested for his work on the case.

The judge found that Mastronardi successfully obtained Roberts' return
to school by convincing her to issue a temporary restraining order
against the Board of Education's expulsion. That led to a Nov. 14
settlement in which the school board rescinded the Oct. 22 expulsion
and allowed Roberts to return to school the next day.

Hall did reduce Mastronardi's hourly fee request to $350 for each of
the roughly 51 hours he spent working on the case.

Roberts was suspended and then expelled from the high school after
police arrested him in September on a marijuana possession charge in
the Riverside Apartments housing project in Ansonia. The incident
occurred several hours after school closed for the day and several
miles away from the high school.

Police said they found eight small bags of marijuana and $13 in
Roberts' possession during his arrest. The charges, however, were
resolved under the youthful offender laws, with no incarceration and
no criminal record.

Hall granted Mastronardi's request for a temporary restraining order
against the expulsion.

At that time, Mastronardi said the judge advised schools that "they'd
better make sure before expelling a student for engaging in
after-hours, off-campus misconduct that the conduct disrupted the
school's operation."

As part of the settlement, Bolling withdrew her federal lawsuit
against the Board of Education, Supt. of Schools Carol Merlone and
Ansonia High School Principal Susan H. McKernan. Neither Laubin nor
Mastronardi could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Roberts, a former wide receiver, is no longer a member of the school's
football team, but plays on the basketball team, according to Ansonia
High School Athletic Director Luba Soldra.