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Plea Agreement For No Jail Blows Up; Glastonbury Couple Accused Of Abusing Boys Headed To Trial
New claims from one of the alleged victims leads to decision to go to trial.
By DAVID OWENS and KELLY GLISTA, [email protected] Hartford Courant
9:33 p.m. EDT, April 5, 2013
HARTFORD—
— A judge on Friday allowed two Glastonbury men, accused two years ago of sexually assaulting two of their nine adopted boys, to withdraw their no-contest pleas and take their cases to trial.
The unusual action came during what was to be a sentencing hearing for George Harasz and Douglas Wirth, who entered pleas in January to one felony count each of risk of injury to a minor. They agreed to suspended prison sentences. The only issue for Friday's hearing was to be whether each would be required to register as sex offenders.
But a new allegation of sexual assault against Harasz by one of the victims, contained in a pre-sentence investigation of Harasz, helped scrap the plea agreement. The case was further clouded Friday by disclosure in court of new allegations of abuse by three other of the nine children. No new criminal charges have been filed.
The new information gives rise to the possibility of new criminal charges, and therefore continuing with Friday's planned sentencing would not have been prudent, prosecutor David Zagaja told Judge Joan K. Alexander. Further, Zagaja said, the victim has said he wants to testify against Wirth and Harasz at trial.
"I think the only proper resolution of this matter is to try it," Zagaja said.
Initially, Harasz, 49, was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, aggravated first-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons. Wirth, 45, was initially charged with third-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. Those charges were reduced to a single charge for each man as part of the plea agreement.
Defense attorneys Hubert J. Santos, representing Harasz, and Michael Dwyer, representing Wirth, reached the same conclusion and asked the judge to allow their clients to withdraw the no-contest pleas they entered in January.
"This case needs to be tried so these men can clear their names," Santos said.
The judge agreed to allow them to withdraw the pleas. While acknowledging a trial is a risk for the prosecution and the defense, Alexander said having a trial is "in the interest of justice. The facts must be shown and must be shown publicly."
The new allegations of abuse revealed in the pre-sentence investigation are "dramatically different and more extreme," the judge said.
"[The son said] he has scars from being held down and raped and that those injuries were inflicted by a weapon," Zagaja said, quoting the report.
Alexander also had pointed questions for a state Department of Children and Families lawyer. She asked why a DCF social worker, who accompanied the victim to the interview with a probation officer, heard the new allegation of sexual assault and did not report it to law enforcement. State law requires DCF officials to report such allegations to law enforcement within 12 hours, she noted.
Matthew LaRock, a DCF attorney who was in court Friday, responded that the DCF worker thought the allegation was part and parcel of the criminal case pending against Wirth and Harasz.
Alexander called the response "disingenuous."
The victim noted in the interview that he had never told investigators about the incident, the judge said. "How could that be interpreted as part and parcel," she asked.
Later, DCF Commissioner Joette Katz, who was also in court, said the new allegation would immediately be referred for investigation. She also revealed that three of five younger children the couple adopted have alleged abuse by Wirth and Harasz to counselors.
Although the sentencing did not proceed, one of the alleged teenage victims spoke and urged that Wirth and Harasz be jailed. He said the physical, psychological and sexual abuse began when he was 6 years old. Wirth and Harasz would touch him and violate him, he said, and would make him satisfy them sexually. The alleged victim — the same one who made the new allegations — said Harasz and Wirth abused him when no one else was around.
"They took turns raping me over and over," he said. "Anyone who would do this to a child is a sick, demented person."
Several others people spoke on behalf of Wirth and Harasz, including Carlos Harasz, the brother of two of the men who have made allegations against their parents; Harasz's biological son and daughter; and Wirth's father Russell Wirth. They called the accusers liars and said they were mentally ill.
Carlos Harasz said his brother was lying. The abuse he described, Carlos Harasz said, was what he and his brothers instead suffered at the hand of other foster parents. Harasz and Wirth did not abuse them, he said.
"I told the truth," Carlos Harasz said, "that nothing ever happened."
Harasz and Wirth, Carlos Harasz said, gave he and his brothers a "normal, painless life" after years of being abused and neglected by other foster families and his own mother. He asked why it took three incidents to get him removed from his mother's home, but only "one statement from a disturbed kid to kill the souls of Doug and George."
DCF and the police failed to properly investigate and "took the word of an angry, damaged, disturbed boy and destroyed a family." He said "DCF was played by my brothers."
Russell Wirth described his son and Harasz as "loving, dedicated parents" who were destroyed by the false allegations of the children they sought to help.
"Take responsibility for your actions," he said to the three older brothers aligned against Wirth and Harasz. "You know the truth. The truth will set you free."
Santos said there are school reports that outline lying by the accusers and hallucinations on the part of one.
Dwyer, the attorney for Wirth, said that at a trial witnesses, including therapists, would undercut the allegations the brothers have made against Wirth and Harasz.
Zagaja said the plea agreement was an appropriate resolution of the case given the challenge the state would face in meeting its burden of proof at a trial.
The judge outlined several of those problems before allowing the men to withdraw their pleas. She said DCF had been actively involved with the family, had investigated allegations of abuse, and had sustained one. A question at trial will be whether the previous complaints were true or whether DCF had been incompetent. The state also has no forensic evidence of the assaults, she said.
The judge also noted that DCF also departed from its own rules in allowing Wirth and Harasz to adopt so many children. Twice, the couple was granted waivers to adopt more children, she noted.
She ordered the parties back to court June 5. The long continuance is to allow police to investigate the new allegations and to report to prosecutors.
The men adopted nine boys, from three sibling groups, beginning in 2000. Police began an investigation in February 2011, and the boys were removed from the home. A second investigation began six months later.
Copyright © 2013, The Hartford Courant
New claims from one of the alleged victims leads to decision to go to trial.
By DAVID OWENS and KELLY GLISTA, [email protected] Hartford Courant
9:33 p.m. EDT, April 5, 2013
HARTFORD—
— A judge on Friday allowed two Glastonbury men, accused two years ago of sexually assaulting two of their nine adopted boys, to withdraw their no-contest pleas and take their cases to trial.
The unusual action came during what was to be a sentencing hearing for George Harasz and Douglas Wirth, who entered pleas in January to one felony count each of risk of injury to a minor. They agreed to suspended prison sentences. The only issue for Friday's hearing was to be whether each would be required to register as sex offenders.
But a new allegation of sexual assault against Harasz by one of the victims, contained in a pre-sentence investigation of Harasz, helped scrap the plea agreement. The case was further clouded Friday by disclosure in court of new allegations of abuse by three other of the nine children. No new criminal charges have been filed.
The new information gives rise to the possibility of new criminal charges, and therefore continuing with Friday's planned sentencing would not have been prudent, prosecutor David Zagaja told Judge Joan K. Alexander. Further, Zagaja said, the victim has said he wants to testify against Wirth and Harasz at trial.
"I think the only proper resolution of this matter is to try it," Zagaja said.
Initially, Harasz, 49, was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, aggravated first-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons. Wirth, 45, was initially charged with third-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. Those charges were reduced to a single charge for each man as part of the plea agreement.
Defense attorneys Hubert J. Santos, representing Harasz, and Michael Dwyer, representing Wirth, reached the same conclusion and asked the judge to allow their clients to withdraw the no-contest pleas they entered in January.
"This case needs to be tried so these men can clear their names," Santos said.
The judge agreed to allow them to withdraw the pleas. While acknowledging a trial is a risk for the prosecution and the defense, Alexander said having a trial is "in the interest of justice. The facts must be shown and must be shown publicly."
The new allegations of abuse revealed in the pre-sentence investigation are "dramatically different and more extreme," the judge said.
"[The son said] he has scars from being held down and raped and that those injuries were inflicted by a weapon," Zagaja said, quoting the report.
Alexander also had pointed questions for a state Department of Children and Families lawyer. She asked why a DCF social worker, who accompanied the victim to the interview with a probation officer, heard the new allegation of sexual assault and did not report it to law enforcement. State law requires DCF officials to report such allegations to law enforcement within 12 hours, she noted.
Matthew LaRock, a DCF attorney who was in court Friday, responded that the DCF worker thought the allegation was part and parcel of the criminal case pending against Wirth and Harasz.
Alexander called the response "disingenuous."
The victim noted in the interview that he had never told investigators about the incident, the judge said. "How could that be interpreted as part and parcel," she asked.
Later, DCF Commissioner Joette Katz, who was also in court, said the new allegation would immediately be referred for investigation. She also revealed that three of five younger children the couple adopted have alleged abuse by Wirth and Harasz to counselors.
Although the sentencing did not proceed, one of the alleged teenage victims spoke and urged that Wirth and Harasz be jailed. He said the physical, psychological and sexual abuse began when he was 6 years old. Wirth and Harasz would touch him and violate him, he said, and would make him satisfy them sexually. The alleged victim — the same one who made the new allegations — said Harasz and Wirth abused him when no one else was around.
"They took turns raping me over and over," he said. "Anyone who would do this to a child is a sick, demented person."
Several others people spoke on behalf of Wirth and Harasz, including Carlos Harasz, the brother of two of the men who have made allegations against their parents; Harasz's biological son and daughter; and Wirth's father Russell Wirth. They called the accusers liars and said they were mentally ill.
Carlos Harasz said his brother was lying. The abuse he described, Carlos Harasz said, was what he and his brothers instead suffered at the hand of other foster parents. Harasz and Wirth did not abuse them, he said.
"I told the truth," Carlos Harasz said, "that nothing ever happened."
Harasz and Wirth, Carlos Harasz said, gave he and his brothers a "normal, painless life" after years of being abused and neglected by other foster families and his own mother. He asked why it took three incidents to get him removed from his mother's home, but only "one statement from a disturbed kid to kill the souls of Doug and George."
DCF and the police failed to properly investigate and "took the word of an angry, damaged, disturbed boy and destroyed a family." He said "DCF was played by my brothers."
Russell Wirth described his son and Harasz as "loving, dedicated parents" who were destroyed by the false allegations of the children they sought to help.
"Take responsibility for your actions," he said to the three older brothers aligned against Wirth and Harasz. "You know the truth. The truth will set you free."
Santos said there are school reports that outline lying by the accusers and hallucinations on the part of one.
Dwyer, the attorney for Wirth, said that at a trial witnesses, including therapists, would undercut the allegations the brothers have made against Wirth and Harasz.
Zagaja said the plea agreement was an appropriate resolution of the case given the challenge the state would face in meeting its burden of proof at a trial.
The judge outlined several of those problems before allowing the men to withdraw their pleas. She said DCF had been actively involved with the family, had investigated allegations of abuse, and had sustained one. A question at trial will be whether the previous complaints were true or whether DCF had been incompetent. The state also has no forensic evidence of the assaults, she said.
The judge also noted that DCF also departed from its own rules in allowing Wirth and Harasz to adopt so many children. Twice, the couple was granted waivers to adopt more children, she noted.
She ordered the parties back to court June 5. The long continuance is to allow police to investigate the new allegations and to report to prosecutors.
The men adopted nine boys, from three sibling groups, beginning in 2000. Police began an investigation in February 2011, and the boys were removed from the home. A second investigation began six months later.
Copyright © 2013, The Hartford Courant
