Man allegedly used credit card after Wolcott woman’s death

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

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

After his arrest, he posted $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court next Tuesday, court records show.

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

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

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

Standish later died in hospital.

Police charged both men in connection with Standish’s death, alleging that Hamel failed to cooperate with hospital authorities investigating how Standish sustained her injuries.

According to the affidavit related to Pratte’s arrest, Standish’s father filed a fraud complaint with Wolcott police on April 11 after learning that his deceased daughter’s credit card account had been used to make several purchases at a Utah auto company on March 4.

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

The father told police he asked for the credit card account to be frozen a few days after Standish’s death. After learning of the purchases, he called the Utah auto company and learned they were items for an Audi. The company could not provide further details about the purchases.

Investigators who contacted the company learned that the purchases, totaling about $637, were for software upgrades to improve the performance of a vehicle’s engine and transmission, the affidavit states. The purchases were allegedly made by Pratte, but the billing information used allegedly belonged to Hamel, the affidavit states.

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

During the investigation, Wolcott police learned that Standish had taken out a $100,000 life insurance policy and that Hamel had been named as the beneficiary. Two days after her death, Hamel allegedly contacted the company that administered the policy and asked how he could collect the money, the affidavit states.

On February 20, Hamel then went to the company with Pratte, pretended to be his brother and continued to ask how he could get the life insurance money, the affidavit states. He was told he needed a death certificate for Standish before the money could be paid out.

Nearly a month later, 10 days after Hamel was seriously injured in the accident, a company employee contacted police claiming Pratte showed up with a death certificate that didn’t appear to be authentic, the affidavit states. The man said the document was missing Standish’s Social Security number.

Police noted in the arrest warrant affidavit that Pratte was not related to Hamel and had no legal claim to Standish’s life insurance policy.

On March 15, Wolcott police were reportedly contacted again by the firm and informed that Pratte had dropped off a document naming Pratte as the attorney-in-fact for Hamel’s finances, the affidavit states. The March 14 document was supposed to be initialed and signed by Hamel in several places, but investigators say the signature did not match those on police documents previously signed by Hamel. Police also said Hamel’s social security number on the document was incorrect.

On March 20, investigators went to an East Hartford business to speak with the notary who said she notarized the power of attorney documents. The woman allegedly admitted to police that she was not at the hospital when Hamel allegedly signed the document and that she knew it was illegal, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

The woman also admitted to police that it was “wrong to notarize the document” and that she only did it because she was friends with Pratte, who in turn was friends with her boyfriend, the arrest warrant affidavit states.

According to court records, Hamel has been charged with obstructing police and intentional cruelty to persons in connection with Standish’s death. He was arrested by Wolcott police on May 28 after being released from a rehabilitation clinic and remains in custody on $100,000 bail.

Sadlowski is charged with second-degree manslaughter, evading responsibility for a death, willful cruelty to persons and other charges in connection with Standish’s death. He is being held on $250,000 bail while the charges are pending, records show.