It is not often that a settlement arranged by defense
lawyers and prosecutors blows up so spectacularly, but the blow up will now
allow the public to view what is settled, by whom and how.
George Harasz and Douglas Wirth of Glastonbury
adopted nine boys from three family sets in 2000. On February 11, police began
an investigation after sexual abuse had been alleged and all the boys were
removed from the home.
The initial charges, later expanded, were serious,
according to a report in the Hartford Courant:
“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.”
As part of a plea agreement, these charges were
reduced to one felony count for each of the men. The two men entered a no
contest plea and agreed to suspended prison sentences.
Following the plea agreement, new allegations
surfaced. Accompanied by a Department of Children and Families (DCF) social
worker, one of the adopted sons had told a probation officer in an interview,
according to a pre-sentencing investigation report, that “he has scars from
being held down and raped and that those injuries were inflicted by a
weapon."
That information was never presented for
consideration during the plea bargain process, which ended, considering the
initial charges, in a deal extremely favorable to two allegedly abusive parents
of the nine boys.
When that flub-up reached the ears of Judge Joan
Alexander during a pro-forma hearing at which the two men charged were to
accept a plea bargain extremely favorable to them, she was not pleased.
The judge allowed a withdrawal of the earlier plea
bargain and said that while a trial would be risky for both the prosecution and
the defense, the case should go to trial “in the interest of justice. The facts
must be shown and must be shown publicly."
Addressing the DCF lawyer on hand, she asked why a
social worker accompanying a victim to an interview with a probation officer
did not report an allegation of violent sexual abuse to law enforcement. DCF
workers are obligated by statute to report such offense within 12 hours.
The attorney explained in court that the DCF worker had
assumed the allegation she heard was already part of the criminal case, to
which the judge responded sharply that
the explanation was “disingenuous" -- because the victim had noted in the same
interview that he had never told investigators about that particular incident.
"How could that be interpreted,” the judge
asked, “as part and parcel" of the initial investigation?
The judge also remarked that DCF had twice made
exception to its own rules by allowing Mr. Wirth and Mr. Harasz two waivers so
they might adopt more children.
Joette Katz, a former associate justice of
Connecticut’s Supreme Court before she
was tapped by Governor Dannel Malloy as his DCF Commissioner, was in court to
hear the judge’s remonstrations and later promised to refer for investigation the
overlooked allegations.
Before the sentencing hearing ended, one of the
alleged victims of the two men was permitted to address the court.
Now a teenager, the alleged victim said, according
to the Courant story, “that 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.’"
The alleged sick and demented persons – no thanks to
those who facilitated the extremely lenient, since abandoned initial plea
bargain – have now, by agreeing to ditch a plea bargain in favor of a public
trial, put their feet on the road to justice.
Comments
But, one of the adopted kids says the charges brought by his brother are bogus, completely false. And, the State has no forensic evidence.
Can't help but be reminded of the
Gerald Amirault case up in Mass.
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Harasz and Wirth, Carlos Harasz said, gave he (sic) 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."