An upcoming book from journalist Ronan Farrow includes allegations that former “Today” host Matt Lauer raped an NBC colleague while at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Variety reported the accusations after reading an advanced copy of “Catch and Kill,” which is not scheduled to hit bookstores until Oct. 15. NBC News has not seen a copy of the book.

Lauer, the long-running face of NBC’s "Today" show, was fired by NBC News on Nov. 29, 2017, after a female colleague made a detailed complaint accusing him of inappropriate sexual behavior during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The accusation also noted that the alleged behavior continued in the workplace after the Olympics.

In the book, Farrow writes that the woman who made the complaint against the anchor said that Lauer anally raped her in a hotel room while in Russia, according to Variety.

NBC News said in a statement issued after the Variety report, "Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague."

The book identifies the woman as former NBC News employee Brooke Nevils, who NBC had previously not named at her request.

Lauer on Wednesday issued an open letter through his lawyer, Libby Locke of law firm Clare Locke, characterizing his relationship with Nevils as "completely consensual." 

"In a new book, it is alleged that an extramarital, but consensual, sexual encounter I have previously admitted having, was in fact an assault," Lauer said in part in the letter. "It is categorically false, ignores the facts, and defies common sense."

“There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter," Lauer said.

Middletown police are asking for help to find a man who has been missing since last week. 

Peter Recchia, 59, was last seen on Thursday, Oct. 3 in the area of Millers Pond State Park in Haddam. 

He was traveling south on Foot Hills Road and was wearing a short-sleeve royal blue shirt, jeans, a black belt and black sneakers. 

Police said Recchia does not have a history of violence but has a history of mental health issues and might be delusional and in need of medication. 

Recchia has gray hair, green eyes, a mustache and rectangular eye glasses. 

He is 5-feet 11 and weighs 150 pounds. 

Anyone with any information is urged to call Middletown Police Detective Jimmy Lacasse 860-638-4134 or Middletown dispatch at 860-347-2541 if Detective Lacasse is not available. 

If you out of the Middletown area and see Recchia, call your local police department. 

Route 8 North is closed between exits 18 and 19 in Derby after a crash, according to CT Travel Smart. 

State police said one vehicle is involved in the crash, two people were transported to the hospital and their injuries do not appear to be serious. 

No additional information was immediately available.

Four businesses in Cheshire are encouraging people to get rid of their e-cigarette devices in exchange for free food. It is part of “Ditch the Vape Day.” 

On Wednesday, from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., people can drop off vaping devices and get a free bagel with cream cheese at Shef’s Bagels, a mini-blizzard at Dairy Queen, a small cheese pizza at Pop’s Pizza or a short ice blended beverage at Cheshire Coffee. 

Customers who spoke with NBC Connecticut were glad about the businesses offering incentives. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has posted information on its website about talking to youth about the risks of vaping. 

Authorities are looking for a 4-year-old girl who got separated from her mother at a subway station in Manhattan during Wednesday's morning rush. 

The child was identified to News 4 as Caitlyn Brown. Police said she was last seen at the 59th Street/Lexington Avenue station. 

Brown was reported missing around 8:30 a.m. She was last seen wearing a white windbreaker, blue jeans and blue sneakers.

Anyone with information should call police.

The state has suspended the liquor license for K & D Lounge in Hamden and ordered the premises to close amid an investigation into a stabbing inside the establishment and gunshots that were fired outside. 

On Monday, the Hamden Police Department notified the state Department of Consumer Protection’s Liquor Control Division about an incident on Sunday, Oct. 6, when a 27-year-old West Haven man was stabbed several times in the back inside the nightclub and several gunshots were fired outside. 

On Tuesday, Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle Seagull issued the suspension for the club, which is located at 940 Dixwell Ave. in Hamden. 

The suspension order from the state Department of Consumer Protection says at least 23 gunshots were fired from the parking lot and three to four people are suspected. No one was injured during the gunfire.

The state Department of Consumer Protection notice says the nightclub was ordered to suspend its liquor permit immediately and close the premises pending proceedings for “revocation or other action.”

Evacuations are underway after a gas leak in the area of Bank and State streets in New London, according to Tweets from the New London Firefighters Local 1522 Twitter account.

The Tweet also says a second alarm has been transmitted. 

No additional information was immediately available.

Check back for updates.

A Southern California man faces kidnapping and other charges after driving away with a teenage girl he allegedly solicited for sex through social media, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.

The 17-year-old and her friends met up with 32-year-old Robert Dreyfus Sunday afternoon in an attempt to expose him for using a social media platform to contact underage girls to have sex with, the group told SDSO.

Dreyfus and the girl exchanged text messages and eventually agreed to meet at a shopping center off E. Vista Way and Monte Mar Road. Once there, Dreyfus convinced the teen to get inside his car and then immediately drove off, SDSO said.

The girl was able to contact her friends, who called 911 to report the kidnapping, SDSO said. Sheriff's deputies called Dreyfus on his cell phone, at which point he pulled the car over on E. Vista Way near Corvalla Drive and took off on foot.

Deputies arrested Dreyfus and booked him into the Vista Detention Facility for suspected kidnapping, sending harmful matter to a minor and communicating with a minor with the intent to commit a further offence.

Deputies were able to rescue the teenager, who was unharmed, SDSO said.

Dreyfus posted bail and will appear in court on Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m.

The Sheriff's Department said they strongly discourage people from setting up meetings or contacting anyone for the purpose of catching an individual who is committing a crime.

SDSO asked anyone with information to contact the Vista Patrol Station at (760) 940-4551 or the Sheriff's Communication Center at (858) 565-5200 or Crime Stoppers’ anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

Willie Veasy, behind bars for 27 years for a 1992 murder in North Philadelphia, has been ordered free and his conviction vacated.

A judge ruled Wednesday morning that Veasy, now 53, be released immediately following years of appeals. Many of his family members watched in Judge Leon Tucker's courtroom as his freedom was granted shortly before 11 a.m.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's office said there was not enough evidence for a new trial following recent analysis of the case and supported dropping the decades-old murder charge.

"Patience is a virtue. Patience is a skill," Tucker told Veasy as some family members cried with joy. "How long have you been patient?"

"27 years," Veasy responded.

"You're a free man," Tucked told him.

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Veasy, who was represented by the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, is the seventh Philadelphia man sentenced to life in the late 1980s and early 1990s freed this year. Since District Attorney Larry Krasner took office, nine former lifers have been freed.

He has been in prison since his arrest in June 1992 for a shooting six months earlier on West Russell Street in the Franklinville section of North Philadelphia.

Two men, John Lewis and Efrain Gonzalez, were shot Jan. 24 of that year, and Lewis eventually died from his wounds. Veasy's conviction was due in large part to a signed confession and an eyewitness account.

One of Veasy's attorneys, James Figorski, said Veasy and several other former lifers freed have cases with links to city homicide detectives during a time period three decades ago. Figorski added that more appeals of murder convictions from that time period are pending.

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Four fellow former lifers came to Judge Tucker's courtroom on the 11th floor of the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia to lend support to Veasy and his family.

Tony Wright, who was freed in 2018 after his murder conviction was vacated, said he served time with Veasy and that Veasy is probably "numb right now."

"He's a great guy," Wright said. "And he's got a great family. He's going to be alright."

Wright said other wrongfully convicted men are still in prison, so the fight is not yet over. "Ain't none of us free until all of us are," Wright said.

Veasy’s boss at the time he was charged, Seth Schram, was in the courtroom and said he was "overwhelmed."

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Schram has said Veasy was at work at the time the fatal shooting occurred.

“Willie and I are the same age. I’ve been able to live my last 27 years free. Willie hasn’t,” Schram said.

Over the years, the case against Veasy has been dissected by attorneys from the Innocence Project and found to have discrepancies, according to court filings. They include:

- The eyewitness has since allegedly confessed to being legally blind.

- The detective who interrogated the suspect allegedly kicked the young man repeatedly in his testicles before getting a signed confession.

- The suspect, according to his former boss, was working miles away when the slaying took place.

Still, Veasy remained behind bars. But he remained adamant that he's an innocent man.

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"You have to wake up to that realization that you're actually in here, which you really can't believe," Veasy told NBC10 in a phone interview from Graterford State Prison in Montgomery County in 2018.

"I can't believe I'm actually incarcerated for something I didn't do," Veasy said.

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Veasy is part of a cluster of prisoners who have challenged their life sentences on murder convictions in the late 1980s through early 1990s.

Their challenges are rooted, in part, in tactics by Philadelphia homicide detectives whose approach is now being scrutinized not only in local courts, but also in federal lawsuits.

In a 2016 federal lawsuit filed by Wright, the former lifer, against the City of Philadelphia, and which was settled in July 2018, the Veasy case was mentioned as part of a rundown of numerous accusations against a group of detectives and their supervisors who worked in the city homicide unit three decades ago.

It claimed that a now-retired detective who interrogated Veasy may have forced him into signing a confession. Eleven detectives, along with the City of Philadelphia, were named in the Wright lawsuit.

The detective "smacked him around and kicked his testicles several times until Mr. Veasy agreed to sign the 'confession,'" the lawsuit alleged.

As for the lead witness, she said seven years after Veasy's conviction in a sworn statement taken as part of an investigation by a University of Pennsylvania law professor and his law class that her vision is, and always has been, poor.

"My vision is very poor and I'm virtually legally blind," she said. "My vision was like this at the time of the crime."

Following new evidence and disclosures in filings this year, the District Attorney's office declined to challenge an appeal to Tucker.

At the hearing Wednesday, following a newly filed statement of facts in the case, Patricia Cummings, assistant district attorney in charge of conviction appeals reviews, told Tucker that evidence did not support holding a new trial for Veasy.

Tucker accepted the DA's position and declared the murder charge against Veasy "nolle prossed," or dropped.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Women are sharing their stories on social media of pregnancy discrimination in support of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who came under attack from conservative outlets this week over her claim that she was fired for being pregnant, NBC News reports.

"[I]f you don't understand what this furor over the Elizabeth Warren pregnancy firing story is about, ask pretty much any woman in your life over 35," culture writer Anne Helen Petersen wrote on Twitter, prompting some to respond with their personal experiences.

A flurry of blogs and online outlets also came to Warren’s defense, posting stories such as "Elizabeth Warren's critics forgot: Pregnancy lasts for nine months," "If You Think Elizabeth Warren Is Lying, You’ve Never Been a Woman in the Workplace," and "Elizabeth Warren’s Pregnancy Story Is All Too Common. We Know Because We Live It."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who has not endorsed a candidate in the Democratic primary, shared on Twitter that she was asked just this year if a job offer could be rescinded if a person was pregnant. (It has been illegal to do so for more than 40 years.)

The Cheshire man accused of stabbing and killing his wife in front of her children last month has a new attorney.

Norm Pattis is now representing 31-year-old Emmanuel Dominguez-VillaGomez, who is facing murder charges. Pattis is also representing Fotis Dulos, the estranged husband of missing New Canaan mother Jennifer Dulos.

Police said they found Dominguez-VillaGomez’s wife, Monica Dominguez, in a pool of blood when they responded to their Mountain Road home in September. Court documents said her two children witnessed the attack.

“Why? If they put me in front of him I would ask him why. Why put your family though this pain,” Diana Montes, Monica’s friend, said.

In court, Pattis petitioned for Dominguez-VillaGomez to be able to see his 2-year-old daughter. His next court date is October 30.

A Defense Intelligence Agency employee from Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested Wednesday after federal prosecutors say he leaked classified information to his journalist girlfriend and a second journalist.

Henry Kyle Frese, 30, was arrested when he showed up to work Wednesday morning. He worked as a counterterrorism analyst in Reston, court documents say. 

The Department of Justice says that over the past two years, Frese accessed classified intelligence reports — some of which were unrelated to his duties — and gave a journalist information on "a foreign country's weapons systems."

"Henry Kyle Frese was entrusted with top secret information related to the national defense of our country,” G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. "Frese allegedly violated that trust, the oath he swore to uphold, and is charged with engaging in dastardly and felonious conduct at the expense of our country."

Prosecutors did not name the journalists or their news outlets. Terwilliger was asked if the Justice Department was trying to send a message to journalists. He said, "No. The Justice Department is trying to send a message to leakers — that if you leak information and you betray your oath and you unilaterally provide information, you're gonna be prosecuted." 

Frese allegedly searched a classified government computer system for terms in a report. He then spoke with his girlfriend. About half an hour later, a news article on the topic was published, with top secret information.

At one point, Frese's girlfriend asked if he would speak with another journalist. He agreed because he wanted to help advance his girlfriend's career, prosecutors say. 

Investigators say they caught Frese through his use of government computer systems and his cellphone. 

A federal grand jury indicted Frese on Tuesday. He was charged with two counts of willful transmission of national defense information to persons not entitled to receive it. He faces as long as 20 years in prison if convicted.

Frese is expected in court Thursday. 

Stay with News4 for more details on this developing story.

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday tamped down speculation that he would slow his presidential campaign after he suffered a heart attack last week, saying he plans to compete as vigorously as ever for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

The Vermont independent told NBC in an exclusive interview airing Wednesday night on "Nightly News" and Thursday on the "Today" show that his health scare has only strengthened his resolve, despite telling reporters a day earlier he planned to curtail his normally packed schedule.

"I misspoke the other day, I said a word I should not have said and media drives me a little bit nuts to make a big deal about it," Sanders said, who did the interview alongside his wife, Jane Sanders. "We're going to get back into the groove of a very vigorous campaign, I love doing rallies and I love doing town meetings.”

East Windsor police are investigating after a 70-year-old man was found dead in his home, and say the death is suspicious.

Police said a family member found the man dead in the kitchen of his home on Fairway Drive. The family member had become concerned when he could not reach the victim by phone.

Investigators said the circumstances surrounding the death are suspicious. The Connecticut State Police Major Crime Squad has been called in to investigate.

No other details were immediately available.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint and obtained a temporary restraining order against a company holding real estate house flipping seminars featuring endorsements by television stars Tarek and Christina of HGTV’s “Flip or Flop,” and other celebrities.

The company was the subject of a previous NBC Connecticut Investigates story.

The FTC explained it is limited in what it can say since the case is in litigation, but in court papers it accuses the company of making bogus claims and misleading conduct.

The agency says for six years, house flipping seminars like one in East Hartford in 2017 have been held by Utah-based Zurixx LLC and its affiliated companies.

One of the apparent ways of getting people there, a belief by at least some that they might get to meet house flipping celebrities like Tarek and Christina, whose images were on the event’s posters and handouts

The company took steps to notify people that Tarek el Moussa and Christina Anstead might not attend, using precise wording some recognized, but might not be clear to all fans. But that was not what the FTC complaint is about.

Rather, the FTC said the initial, free event “…used the promise of easy money and in-depth information to lure consumers down a path that could cost them thousands of dollars and put them in serious debt.”

The FTC added Zurixx presenters did this by telling people at the free event to pay $2,000 to attend a three-day workshop on making substantial income from real estate.

Once at that workshop, the FTC alleged Zurixx presenters would try to upsell participants additional products and services that could cost more than $41,000.

Zurixx didn’t respond to our request for comment but in a statement, told the Associated Press it welcomes the scrutiny and anticipates “a positive outcome as we work directly and openly with the agencies involved.”

Zurixx presenters were also accused of telling workshop attendees to use their own credit cards to finance the real estate deals.

The FTC said the company encouraged people to lie about their income to get their borrowing limit raised.

The FTC also said Zurixx allegedly required some consumers who were unhappy with the house flipping program to sign an agreement barring them from talking with agencies that might investigate the company, in order to get a refund.

The FTC complaint noted that Zurixx has conducted business under multiple fictitious business names, like “Success Path.”

That was the name of the company NBC Connecticut Investigates communicated with for the first story on this two years ago.

Tarek and Christina are not named as defendants in the current complaint.

Their publicists did not respond to our requests for comment.

The real estate seminars are not in any way affiliated with HGTV, or Scripps Networks, which broadcast Tarek and Christina’s house flipping program.

Residents who live near West Hartford Center are hoping a new set of parking restrictions will solve a problem that’s been growing in their neighborhood the last several years.

“I think they need to do something,” said Mark Seeger.

Seger has lived on Woodrow Street with his wife Pauline for five years. When they moved in, they say West Hartford Center, which is just up the street, was filled with mom and pop shops. But over the last two to three years they believe the face of the Center has changed and so has the clientele.

“I think because there’s more restaurants,” said Pauline, noting that their business hours are different from stores and often employ more people.

“The Center’s really become an entertainment destination, as well as Blue Back. So, there are people out late at night,” said Mary Fay, a Republican Town Council member.

With that have come complaints about beer bottles left in front yards, intoxicated individuals causing a nuisance late at night, and other issues affecting the neighborhood’s quality of life.

“The one thing we were concerned about is the safety issue, if a fire engine could get down the street if cars were parked on both sides of the street,” said Pauline.

The Town Council unanimously passed a new parking ordinance this week. Parking will now be restricted from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the residential sections of Ellsworth, Pelham Road, and LaSalle roads, along with Woodrow Street.

“This is a really good compromise for everyone involved,” said Liam Sweeney, a Democratic West Hartford Town Council member. “We also have to balance the folks that are going to the restaurants that allow for the home values around the Center to be worth what they are right now.”

However, it’s not just late-night revelers who take up the free street parking, it’s also some restaurant employees who say they can’t afford the Center’s steep parking rates.

“I think they’re going to be forced to park in these expensive parking lots. They’re going to have to use Uber and Lift, count on their friends for rides,” said Nina Rowe.

Rowe, a bartender at the Elbow Room, known for its rooftop dining, says on slow rainy days like Wednesday she can spend more on parking then she makes in tips.

“We’ve had a lot of people actually quit when I first started here because of the parking situation,” said Rowe. “ They would come in for a serving shift and they would end up spending more than they actually made in tips.”

Town Manager Matt Hart said employees who work in the town center can park at a discounted rate in one of the nearby garages as well. He’s encouraging business owners in West Hartford Center to make their employees aware of the program.

There’s also concern that this will just move the problem down to the next street and then those homeowners will have with the overflow of cars. Town leaders say because this is a pilot program, it can expanded or changed at any time.

“We’ll have to keep an eye on it and if we need to make other restrictions in other neighborhoods we’ll have to consider that,” said Fay.

Hart said the changes will take effect as soon as the new parking signs arrive within a month.

Pouring rain and wind battered the shoreline in Old Saybrook Wednesday.

Saybrook Point Marina employees and boat owners were adjusting boat lines appropriately with the Nor’easter.

Rob Klingensmith came from New York City to check on his boat before the storm rolled in.

“I came out to check on it. Make sure the lines were all tight and the fenders were on and I saved the wine, that’s the most important thing.”

Even in a Nor’easter, man’s best friend still had to play fetch in Old Saybrook.

“Definitely rather have snow. Snow you can play with. You can ski on. You can make snow people. This dude loves the snow. I’ll take snow over rain every day,” said Doug France of Old Saybrook, who spoke to NBC Connecticut in the pouring rain while playing outside with his dog Bowden.

Locals are making the best of the weather after many wonderful summer days.

“It’s a bit of a change, but it’s fine. We’ll deal with it,” said Kevin Martin of Old Saybrook.

“It was a fantastic summer. We had great weather, all the weekends really worked out really well, so we can’t complain too much now,” said Klingensmith.

An investigation is underway following a break-in at a Sen. Marilyn Moore’s campaign office Monday.

According to campaign officials, the break-in happened around 5:45 p.m. when the office was empty.

Gemeem Davis is Moore’s campaign manager and says she noticed an issue with one room’s door while attempting to make copies inside of the office.

"I looked out and I put my hand on the door-knob and realized that the knob was broken,” said Davis. “I then looked down to see that there was dust around the door handle which happened to also be out of alignment.”

In a police report, Bridgeport Police said they received a call about a burglary taking place at Moore’s campaign headquarters. Officers arrived to find signs of a forced entry, including a broken door handle, and scratches on the door and floor.

Police say they could not determine if any of Moore’s documents were taken. But, according to Moore, some documents are missing.

Moore is a Democrat running as a write-in candidate for mayor.

“I was very disturbed when I heard the news,” Moore said. “I did not realize that whoever did this broken into my office, not just into the building.”

Moore told NBC Connecticut this won’t steer her away from concentrating on her campaign.

“I don’t want people to be worried, we’re just moving forward with the campaign,” she said. “This is a campaign where we should be having discussions and debating the issues, it should not be about intimidation.”

According to campaign team, this is not the first attempt to disrupt and scare the mayoral candidate.

“On August 30 at a Marilyn For Mayor campaign fundraiser with over 100 people in attendance, Bridgeport PD received an ‘anonymous’ call claiming, ‘two white men, armed and wearing masks,’ had entered the fundraiser at Port 5. Eight police cars swarmed the restaurant, yet there was no sign of men fitting that description. To date, Moore has not received any information about that investigation despite requesting it. In addition to the above-mentioned incidents, mail delivered to our campaign office was tampered with last week, and, in June, Marilyn Moore’s car was broken into. In July, her son’s car was broken into.”

“I want the people of Bridgeport to know that I will not be intimidated,” said Senator Moore. “Public safety is one of the most important issues in our city.”

Police say the case is still under investigation.

The Scholarie district attorney released a bombshell letter this week that could shift the blame for last year's deadly limousine crash in upstate New York.

The district attorney sent defense attorneys a letter that says a former Mavis Discount Tire employee admitted staff at the Saratoga Springs store falsified records. 

The crash last October killed 20 people when a stretch limousine blew through an intersection at the bottom of a long hill and barreled into an earthen embankment.

According to the letter, the former Mavis Discount Tire employee said records were falsified to meet a corporate sales quota. The Times Union first reported the former employee's accusation. 

Virgil Parks was terminated by Mavis Discount Tire in February. Parks was recently interviewed by New York officials and, according to documents obtained by News 4, told investigators sometimes items listed on invoices from the Mavis Saratoga store were "substituted to meet sales quotas."

Mavis communications representatives have not returned a comment.

Scholarie District Attorney Susan Mallery said that Parks claims an invoice dated more than 3 months before the limousine crash indicates brake labor was done to the modified limo. Parks now says the brake service was never completed. 

Nauman Hussain, the limousine company manager, is still indicted on manslaughter and criminally neglient homicide counts for each of the 20 victims who died in the crash. Defense attorneys say the new revelations undermine the prosecution's claim that Hussain knew the vehicle was unsafe prior to the crash. 

"They have had this information for weeks and what is even more striking is that Mavis very clearly did not perform a brake job," Lee Kindlon, one of the defense attorneys, said Wednesday. 

This past Sunday marked one year since the crash.

Last Wednesday, the National Transporation Safety Board released safety recommendations after the Ford Excursion SUV that had been modified into a huge stretch limo crashed.

The safety board recommended to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that lap and shoulder seat belts be required on all new vehicles modified to be used as limousines. The agency also recommended that seating systems in these vehicles meet minimum performance standards to ensure their integrity during a crash.

The carnage in the Scholarie crash, the board wrote, “might have been mitigated by a combination of adequate seat integrity, well-designed passenger lap/shoulder belts, and proper seat belt use.”

None of the 17 passengers appeared to have worn available seat belts at the time of the crash, the board said, and the belts were poorly designed and “would not have provided adequate protection.”

Prosecutors in New York allege the limo company's operator, Nauman Hussain, allowed an improperly licensed driver to operate an "unserviceable" vehicle. Just weeks before the crash, the limo had failed a state inspection that examined such things as the chassis, suspension and brakes.

Hussain has pleaded not guilty to criminally negligent homicide, and his lawyer has said investigators rushed to judgment. His trial is scheduled for January.

A lawsuit wants a judge to call for a new election in a Bridgeport Democratic Primary after allegations of irregularities involving absentee or mail-in ballots.

The lawsuit comes after incumbent Joe Ganim beat state Sen. Marilyn Moore in the September 10 Democratic primary election.

According to the Secretary of the State, Ganim won the absentee total with 916 votes to Sen. Moore’s 313. It was also determined that Moore lost by more than 207 votes.

Absentee ballots are used for individuals unable to attend the pools for religious or health reasons, or because they’ll be out of town during the election day. In some instances, absentee ballot can be critical when it comes to the final vote.

The lawsuit filed by activist group Bridgeport Generation Now alleges that there were “irregularities and illegal conduct” in the Democratic primary election.

Wednesday, the group asked that more than 200 ballot applications be submitted for evidence, hoping to prove that there was illegal activity in the primary election.

Assistant Town Clerk Christina Resto took to the stand to discuss typos associated with the absentee ballot applications.

“The September 28 date here that’s listed as received is incorrect,” said Resto. “The number is transposed meaning that date is on a Saturday.”

According to Resto, the dates are incorrect, and a mistake was made.

“Any ballots returned were not data entries on a Saturday, that was a transposed number,” said Resto.

New evidence presented in court is hoping to prove that there are duplicate documents and constant errors in the applications.

“It should be 08-28-19 rather than 09-28, it should reflect that,” said Resto.

In Rao’s lawsuit, it states the following: “Multiple individuals associated with Mayor Ganim, the endorsed (Democratic) candidates and/or the (Democratic) Town Committee engaged in illegal and/or improper primary election activity concerning absentee ballots.”

The judge is expected to decide overnight whether the 200 ballot applications will be submitted for evidence.

A decision is expected by the end of the week.