Greg R. Butts, a convicted pedophile accused of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in March, made his first appearance Monday in the New London court where major crimes are heard.

Butts, 44, of Baltic, has been held in lieu of a $250,000 bond at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Institution in Montville since state police charged him last month with two counts of first-degree sexual assault and two counts of risk of injury to a minor.  He wore a red prison jumpsuit and stood with his attorney, Bryan P. Fiengo, during his court appearance. Fiengo entered a "not guilty" plea on his behalf and Judge Hillary B. Strackbein continued the case to June 2 after reminding Butts of a protective order prohibiting him from having contact with the alleged victim.

As he was being led out of the courtroom, he turned to an older woman in the audience and told her he needed to get out of prison.

"I gotta get out of there" he whispered to the woman.

According to state police, the girl and her mother, who knew Butts, feared for their safety after reporting to state police on March 28 that Butts had sexually assaulted the girl two weeks earlier at his home and on another occasion. The girl had been homebound while recovering from a serious injury, and the mother left her at Butts' house for about 1 1/2 hours while preparing to throw her a surprise birthday party. The alleged victim was embarassed to tell her mother about the incidents, but eventually wrote the details in a note and left it on her mother's pillow, according to the affidavit. The mother immediately took the child to The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, where medical personnel examined the child and called police.

The girl told her mother Butts sexually assaulted her while Butts' juvenile son took a shower and that she "went along with it" because she was afraid Butts, who always had a pocketknife, would hurt her. She said he had touched her sexually on another occasion but had never threatened her with the knife. The girl repeated the details during a forensic interview, and in early April, prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman and Judge Strackbein signed an arrest warrant prepared by Detective Humberto Morales Jr. of the Eastern District Major Crime Squad.

Butts, who has previous convictions for fourth-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor, harassment, stalking, cruelty to animals, use of drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest, was on special parole at the time of his arrest and was prohibited from having contact with minors without the permission of his parole officer. Butts failed to report to his parole officer after learning he would be charged with a parole violation in connection with the reported sexual assault, according to the affidavit. He told his parole office he was not going back to jail and was on the run.

In 1995, Butts broke into the bedroom of a sleeping 9-year-old girl in Sprague and fled when she woke up and screamed, according to a story in The Day at the time. Tracked down by a police dog as he crouched behind a stone wall, Butts stabbed the dog twice with an arrow and fought with three troopers before he was taken into custody.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN