Senior citizen sentenced for sexually touching Stonington child
The parents of a young girl who was molested by a senior citizen who lived in the family's Stonington neighborhood in 2014 took deep breaths and struggled to hold back their tears as they spoke Tuesday at the perpetrator's sentencing in New London Superior Court.
John A. Adrian, 66, who had been convicted of committing a similar crime against a child in Illinois in 1986, had pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor. To spare the child from having to testify in court, prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman said she agreed to resolve the case with a sentence of 1½ years in prison, followed by five years of probation. Adrian will be required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
Adrian, who suffers from ill health, was in a wheelchair and wore an oxygen tube during his sentencing. He has been held in lieu of $150,000 since Stonington police arrested him in February 2017 and is incarcerated at the Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center in Montville.
Ferryman said a friend of Adrian's went to Stonington police in June 2016 with concerns he had after speaking with Adrian. The police interviewed Adrian, who made "bizarre and inculpatory remarks," Ferryman said. He implied that the child initiated and liked the sexual contact, according to Ferryman, who said that Adrian has had little insight about his behavior.
"You were my friend," the child's father said. "I trusted you, confided in you and, most of all, trusted you with my daughter. She looked and thought of you as a grandfather."
The girl's mother said the child wasn't Adrian's first victim, but because of the girl's bravery and the support the family is receiving, they will "make damn sure" the girl is his last victim.
His attorney, M. Fred DeCaprio, said there was significant dispute about parts of the case, but that in his opinion, Adrian made sufficient admissions to risk conviction if he went to trial.
Judge Hillary B. Strackbein said she thinks the sentence is "light" but spares the child and imposes strict probation requirements on Adrian.
"Blaming the 4-year-old is really one of the worst things I've read," Strackbein said. "For you having taken advantage of this child is unspeakable."
She issued a permanent protective order prohibiting Adrian from contact with the child and her family.
