Former Hartford detective accused of stealing from local restaurant group

It is not the first arrest for the former police detective, who was once shot in the chest while working undercover on a drug detail in Hartford.

A former Hartford police detective has been charged with larceny and is accused of stealing about $80,000 from a local restaurant chain where he once worked.

Superior Court records show that Tishay Johnson Sr. of Windsor was arrested on January 3 and released on bond for an appearance in Superior Court in Hartford on Jan. 17.

It is not the first arrest for Johnson, who was once shot in the chest while working undercover on a drug detail in Hartford. A decade ago he was convicted of stealing about $30,000 in application fees while managing the Hartford Police Department’s pistol permit program.

In that case, Johnson was sentenced to home confinement and ordered to pay back the money, which was $17,442.50 to the city of Hartford and $11,984.25 to the state of Connecticut. He resigned from the Hartford Police Department in 2014.

The new arrest arose from Johnson’s employment by the Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ restaurant chain. Cheryl Antoncic, co-owner of the chain, said she once considered Johnson a friend and she and her partner hired him after the first arrest so he could “get his life back in order.”

She said Johnson became a manager at the chain’s Windsor and South Windsor locations in 2015, but was fired in 2022 for allegedly “creating fraudulent payroll records and paying his children for time not actually worked.” She said the loss to the restaurants was about $80,000.

Hartford Attorney Salvatore Bonanno, who is representing Johnson, said his client has cooperated with the investigation by the Windsor police.

“We’ve been working with the Windsor police since this investigation began,” Bonanno said. “And we knew there was a time when this matter would come to a head and it would go to court. We hope to resolve the case in a way that satisfies the complainant.”

A representative of the Windsor Police Department did not immediately return a call requesting information about the case.