Farmington Manhunt Ends in Headlight Confusion, High Speeds, and a Probation Double Feature 🚨

Three Arrests, Two Officers, and One Headlamp Short: A Night in Farmington’s Criminal Underbelly

By Jack Beckett | The Farmington Mercury
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Farmington, CT – The quiet charm of Talcott Forest was briefly interrupted just past midnight on March 21, when local authorities reminded a 19-year-old resident that “no headlamps” is not the bold aesthetic choice he might’ve thought.

According to arrest records from the Farmington Police Department (run time: 06:48; thank you, bureaucracy), Kyle N. Mortensen of Farmington was arrested at 12:35 AM at 8 Talcott Forest Rd. Mortensen, who might be auditioning for Fast & Deliriously Confused, was charged with:

• Failure to have headlamps
• Failure to drive in proper lane
• Violation of traffic control signals (×2 for good measure)
• Traveling unreasonably fast
• Engaging police in pursuit (always a crowd favorite)
• Possession of cannabis plant (<50z, under 21 years old)

Bond was set at a humble $10,000—a small price to pay for a joyride under dim conditions. Mortensen was released after posting bond and presumably returned to watching Fast & Furious 7 on loop.

Meanwhile, just a few hours earlier, Officer Jose R. Santiago was busy performing a legal version of “Groundhog Day” over at 319 New Britain Avenue, where Wandaline Rodriguez, 46, of Camden, NJ (currently homeless), was arrested twice—yes, twice—in what can only be described as the municipal version of Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V.

Rodriguez was charged both times with Violation of Probation (53a-32), held on a hefty $50,000 bond, and was clearly making her case for a sequel. One record lists her initial arrest. The second? A re-arrest warrant. Because why get arrested once when you can double down?

This leaves us with three arrests, two officers, and one town still wondering how someone gets pulled over for a headlight violation and ends up racking up charges like they’re playing GTA: Farmington Edition.

🔔 Reminder: All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So please, no trial-by-group-text just yet.

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☕ About the Author

Jack Beckett, Staff Writer at The Farmington Mercury, runs on equal parts caffeine, existential dread, and deep distrust of blinking cursor icons. When not covering arrests, zoning disputes, or local turkey uprisings, he’s knee-deep in a lukewarm coffee mug muttering “just one more paragraph.”

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📰 We are Farmington. We are slow. We are deeply suspicious of anyone speeding through Talcott Forest.