- Karl Jacobson faced two larceny counts after surrendering Friday, with $85,500 in public money unaccounted for throughout his time leading the department.
- Betting records from 2025 show losses that cleared his entire annual paycheck, and the federal scope has since been pulled back before 2024, a signal that the situation ran longer than anyone originally knew.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson was taken into custody Friday on two larceny charges, with investigators connecting $85,500 in missing city funds directly to an online gambling habit he sustained across his time in the role.
Jacobson is accused of embezzling $81,500 from the Narcotic Enforcement Program, which the department uses to pay informants involved in drug cases, and $4,000 from the Police Activity League, a youth group that primarily relies on funds taken out of officers’ paychecks. His initial court appointment is set for March 6. He willingly entered custody and secured a $150,000 bond before being released.
Karl Jacobson’s Gambling Problem Hidden in Plain Sight
According to court records, Jacobson made over $4.4 million in 2025 through DraftKings and FanDuel, two of the largest online gambling sites for Connecticut residents. His winnings during that same period came to nearly $4.25 million, but his losses for the year came to about $214,000—a sum that actually exceeded his annual pay of about $180,000.
He transferred funds from his personal checking account to those two applications 1,366 times over 373 days, or over four times a day on average, according to bank records. Investigators also found he had an active account on Fanatics, Connecticut’s third state-approved bookmaker.
Jacobson confessed to squandering department funds and admitting that his online gambling had increased dramatically in the past few months when he was challenged by three assistant chiefs on January 5. David Zannelli, the acting chief, covertly recorded the meeting. Jacobson never came back to his office after leaving and submitting his retirement documents.
Following a Supreme Court decision in 2018 that granted states the authority to control sports betting within their boundaries, Connecticut legalized online sports gambling sites like DraftKings and FanDuel in 2021.
Millions of people nationwide have been drawn to these platforms due to their accessibility through free smartphone apps, and addiction specialists observe that the constant availability of betting through a personal device makes it much more difficult to identify and stop compulsive behavior before it causes serious harm.
Parts of the pilfered money were moved straight from Jacobson’s personal checking account into his gambling app accounts, according to FBI forensic accountants. Since then, the investigation has been expanded to include years before 2024, raising the possibility that the alleged wrongdoing goes back deeper than originally stated.