A reporter who covered the town of Simsbury for the Hartford Courant has resigned amid a plagiarism investigation at the local newspaper.
According to a statement published in the front section of the Courant's Thursday, Nov. 1 edition two recent stories published by reporter Hillary Federico "contained words or phrases that appeared in other publications."
Federico, a 2010 Quinnipiac University graduate, was most recently working as a reporter for the Courant covering the towns of Simsbury and Farmington. Federico first began working at the Courant in 2011 as a breaking news reporter. Before that she was a town reporter for the Middletown Press, according to a professional profile on LinkedIn.
Federico was also the recipient of three journalism awards for work she did in 2011.
The two recent instances of plagiarism were discovered during an ongoing investigation by Courant staff that was initiated after a similar issue was identified in an unpublished story as it was being reviewed before publication, according to the Hartford Courant.
An Aug. 24 story published in the Courant contained words or phrases taken from an article written by Brad Mead which was published in its entirety on Simsbury Patch.
The other article appeared in the Courant's print edition on March 16. The Hartford Courant statement did not specify how the investigation began.
"When we discover problems we take immediate action to correct them, and strong action to prevent them from happening again," the statement said.
Federico resigned from her position during the investigation, according to the statement.
