Man accused of using Wolcott woman’s credit card after death, forging documents for life insurance

A Southington man faces fraud charges for allegedly using a woman’s credit card to make multiple purchases about a month after she was run over in a Wolcott driveway and killed.

Edward Pratte, 41, was arrested last Friday and charged with illegal use of a credit card, payment card fraud and fifth-degree larceny, according to the Wolcott Police Department.

He posted $5,000 bond following the arrest and is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court next Tuesday, court records show.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Pratte is identified as a friend of 36-year-old Brandon Hamel, who was dating Alexandra Standish when she was run over in a driveway on Central Avenue in Wolcott on Feb. 10 in the early morning hours. She was 37 years old.

Police have previously alleged that Hamel, Standish and 31-year-old James Sadlowski had been out drinking the night of the incident and that there was a delay in getting Standish medical attention after Sadlowski ran her over with his pickup truck. Neither man called 911.

CT man charged with manslaughter in death of woman run over in driveway; second arrest expected

Police allege that Sadlowski and Hamel eventually lifted Standish into Hamel’s vehicle before he took her to Bristol Hospital and Sadlowski went home to a hotel where he had been staying.

Standish later died at the hospital.

Police have charged both men in connection with her death, alleging that Hamel was uncooperative with authorities at the hospital who were investigating how Standish suffered her injuries.

According to the warrant affidavit in Pratte’s arrest, Standish’s father made a fraud complaint to Wolcott police on April 11 after learning that a credit card account belonging to his deceased daughter was used to make several purchases at a car company in Utah on March 4.

Hamel was an authorized user on the account, though police noted in the warrant affidavit that he was hospitalized at the time after suffering a traumatic brain injury and other injuries during a motorcycle crash on Interstate 84 in Cheshire.

The father told police he requested that the credit card account be frozen a few days after Standish died. He called the car company in Utah after learning of the purchases and was told they were for items for an Audi. The business could not disclose any further details about the purchases.

Investigators who contacted the business learned that the purchases, which totaled about $637, were made for software upgrades to boost a vehicle’s engine and transmission performance, the warrant affidavit said. The purchases were allegedly made by Pratte, though the billing information that was used allegedly  belonged to Hamel, according to the warrant affidavit.

One of the software upgrades was allegedly for a 2018 Audi S3 that was registered to a Southington woman with the same last name as Pratte, the warrant affidavit said.

During the investigation, Wolcott police reportedly learned that Standish had a $100,000 life insurance policy and that Hamel had been named as the beneficiary. Two days after her death, Hamel allegedly contacted the firm that managed the policy and asked how he could collect the money, the warrant affidavit said.

Then on Feb. 20, Hamel allegedly went to the firm with Pratte, saying he was his brother, and asked further about how he could collect the life insurance money, the warrant affidavit said. He was told he would need a death certificate for Standish before the funds could be paid out.

Nearly a month later, 10 days after Hamel was seriously injured in the accident, a man from the firm contacted police alleging that Pratte showed up with a death certificate that did not appear to be authentic, according to the warrant affidavit. The man said the document was missing Standish’s social security number.

Police noted in the warrant affidavit that Pratte is not related to Hamel and has no legal right to the life insurance policy for Standish.

On March 15, Wolcott police were reportedly contacted by the firm again and told that Pratte had dropped off a document naming Pratte the power of attorney over Hamel’s finances, the warrant affidavit said. The document, dated March 14, was supposed to be initialed and signed in multiple places by Hamel, though investigators allege that the signature did not match the one used on police paperwork previously signed by Hamel. Police also said Hamel’s social security number on the document was incorrect.

Investigators on March 20 went to an East Hartford business to speak with the notary who had said she notarized the power of attorney papers. The woman allegedly admitted to police that she was not in the hospital when Hamel would have signed the document and that she knew it was illegitimate, according to the warrant affidavit.

The woman also conceded to police that it was “wrong to notarize” the document and that she only did it because she is friends with Pratte, who is also a friend of her boyfriend, the warrant affidavit said.

According to court records, Hamel has been charged with interfering with police and intentional cruelty to persons in connection with Standish’s death. He was arrested by Wolcott police on May 28 after he was released from a rehab hospital and remains held on a $100,000 bond.

Sadlowski faces charges of second-degree manslaughter, evading responsibility of a death, intentional cruelty to persons and other charges in Standish’s death. He is being held on a $250,000 bond while the charges are pending, records show.