New London Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein sent convicted sex offender John LaFemina to the Whiting Forensic Institute on Wednesday after finding he is not competent to stand trial for a March 29 incident at the January Center in Uncasville.

LaFemina, 40, had been released from prison to the January Center, a residential sex offender treatment facility on the grounds of the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center, after serving a 12-year sentence for dragging a woman into the woods and sexually assaulting her in 2003.

On March 29, a Montville Police officer tased LaFemina after being called to the January Center, where LaFemina had allegedly assaulted an employee, smashed objects and pulled the fire alarm as he ran through the facility, according to a probation report.

He was charged with breach of peace, interfering with police, third-degree criminal mischief and violation of probation and sent back to prison. His attorney, Bruce A. Sturman, asked for a competency evaluation after meeting with LaFemina, who has a history of mental illness dating back to his childhood, according to his court file.

At a brief hearing Wednesday, prosecutor Lawrence J. Tytla elicited testimony from Vivian Carr, a social worker from the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services who evaluated LaFemina with two other clinicians. Carr testified that LaFemina appeared to be having delusional thoughts during his evaluation.

"He provided examples of a special relationship with God and said he was getting messages from God and the Holy Spirit as to how he should respond," Carr testified.

Based on his evaluation and his previous diagnosis of schizophrenia and alcohol dependence, the panel concluded unanimously that he was incompetent to stand trial, she said. The panel determined he likely could be restored to competency within 60 days at Whiting. Strackbein committed him to the state mental facility and continued the case to Aug. 4. 

In the 2003 incident, LaFemina ran up behind a 22-year-old woman who was walking home after getting off the Foxwoods Resort Casino employee bus at the Norwich viaduct, according to court records. He followed the woman down River Avenue, where he covered her mouth with his hand, dragged her into the woods and attacked her sexually.

At the time, LaFemina was living at Serenity House, a Laurel Hill Avenue halfway house for recovering addicts. He had been convicted in 1998 of fourth-degree sexual assault after fondling the breasts of two teenage girls who lived in his Taftville neighborhood, according to The Day archive. At the time of his 1998 conviction, LaFemina, a Norwich native, was on probation for a second-degree assault conviction from 1996.

In 1992, when he was 17, LaFemina was arrested for charging at police with a large kitchen knife after barricading himself in a bedroom and threatening police and family members.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN