Woman to spend year in prison for having sex with 14-year-old boy
A mother pleaded guilty Wednesday in New London Superior Court to having an illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old friend of her son in Groton.
Dawn M. Kerr, 35, who was living most recently in Spring Valley, Ill., won't be sentenced until Aug. 23, but asked to be taken into custody immediately to begin serving a one-year prison sentence. A judicial marshal took Kerr's purse and escorted her into the courthouse lockup at the end of her brief court appearance.
She pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor and will be sentenced to seven years in prison, suspended after one year served, followed by five years of probation. She accepted a deal worked out between Senior Assistant State's Attorney Theresa Anne Ferryman and defense attorney Paul F. Chinigo. The mother of the victim is unhappy with the plea agreement and is expected to address the court at the sentencing hearing.
According to court documents and testimony, the mother of the victim told Groton Town Police in August 2016 that she suspected her son was involved in a sexual relationship with Kerr, who is the mother of one of the boy's friends. The mother said she had allowed the teen to stay at Kerr's house while she was working, but that he started smoking marijuana, sneaking out of home at night and getting into trouble.
The mother said her son began asking constantly to be picked up by Kerr, who on one occasion retrieved him from a family vacation in upstate New York for a shopping trip to Kittery, Maine, with Kerr and her children. The mother reported that another parent showed her text messages in which Kerr and that parent's daughter discussed the teen, and Kerr said the teen could come and live with her when he was 18. Kerr texted that she hoped the teen could wait until he was 18 because there's something about him that made her happy, according to the affidavit.
Asked about her relationship with the teen during a meeting at police headquarters, Kerr said he was one of several youths who liked to hang around at her house. Confronted with the texts, she began to cry and admitted to having sex with the victim. She said she knew it was wrong but was going through a divorce and liked the attention the victim gave her, according to the affidavit.
The teen told police he and Kerr had sex at least three times and would Snap Chat each other about sex but refused to give further detail, according to the affidavit. Though the relationship appeared consensual, it is illegal for an adult to have sex with somebody under 16, which is the so-called age of consent in Connecticut.
