Connecticut contractor, worker plead guilty in fatal trench collapse case

VERNON, Conn. — According to WFSB, a contractor and one of his employees have pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter charges after a trench collapse at a Connecticut jobsite led to the death of a worker in 2022.

Dennis Botticello, 69, of Suffield, and Glen Locke, 67, of Somers, entered their pleas following an investigation into the death of 56-year-old Dennis Slater, WFSB reported. Slater, a construction worker from East Windsor, died when an 8-foot trench collapsed and buried him while working at a site in Vernon.

Botticello owns Botticello Inc., the company overseeing the work. Both Slater and Locke were employed by the business at the time of the incident.

Locke was operating equipment near Slater when the trench gave way. Authorities determined that proper safety measures were not in place at the time of the collapse.

According to the state’s attorney’s office, a joint investigation conducted by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Vernon Police Department found that the site did not meet OSHA standards for trench safety, WFSB reported. Officials cited the absence of required protective systems designed to prevent such cave-ins.

Records show that Botticello Inc. had previously been cited in 2015 for four serious trenching violations at another jobsite in Stafford.

Both Botticello and Locke face a sentence of 10 years in prison, with five years to be served and the remainder suspended, followed by three years of probation.

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