Court Documents Detail Sex Crime Allegations

By Andrew Gorosko

Arrest warrant documents on file at Danbury Superior Court explain why Newtown police charged a local man with ten felonies involving his alleged illicit sexual contact with young children.

Although initially sealed by the court, the warrant documents, which led to the April 15 arrest of David F. Csanadi, 34, of 10½ Aunt Park Lane, are now public.

Csanadi, who is represented by a public defender, has pleaded not guilty to all ten charges. Those charges are three counts of first-degree sexual assault, three counts of risk of injury or impairing the morals of children, three counts of illegal sexual contact with a child, and one count of third-degree possession of child pornography.

On May 25 in Danbury Superior Court, a judge continued Csanadi’s case to June 22, a court official said. 

The state is asking the court to keep sealed the search-and-seizure warrant documents in the case because the matter remains under criminal investigation.

Csanadi is being held on $1 million bail on May 25 at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.

Police seized copious evidence in the case and are reviewing it to determine whether additional criminal charges will be filed against Csanadi, according to Police Chief Michael Kehoe.

Chief Kehoe said the case is unusual because Csanadi was arrested before police completed their investigation into his activities.

“It is a complex investigation,” he said, adding that it is unclear how long it will take police to review the voluminous evidence.

The court documents state that there are three victims in the case and list the sex crimes as having occurred sometime between 2006 and 2010. Police Detective Jason Frank is the investigator.

A Monroe police detective, who was conducting an undercover criminal investigation on the downloading of child pornography via the Internet, located some data that prompted him to contact Charter Communications for information on the identity of a Charter customer who had allegedly downloaded child pornography, according to the court papers.

Through that query to Charter, the Monroe detective learned the name and street address of Csanadi, who had allegedly downloaded that pornography via the Gnutella peer-to-peer network. Monroe police then informed Newtown police of what they had learned.

Newtown police then sought and received a search-and-seizure warrant for Csanadi’s residence through which they would seize items including computers and computer-related media, and video and/or recording devices.

Det Frank states in the paperwork that he has personally known Csanadi for about 15 years due to prior dealings with him.

On April 8, Newtown police executed the search-and-seizure warrant at Csanadi’s home through which they seized a tower-style computer, plus some DVDs and CDs, all of which appeared to contain “homemade” videos, according to the court papers.

“The covers of some of these DVDs and CDs have photos of young female children that appeared to be prepubescent,” the court papers state.

Police seized 21 videotapes in the 8mm format and ten videotapes in the VHS format, which also appeared to be homemade recordings, the court papers add. Also, some of the DVDs, CDs, and videotapes had a female’s name labeled on them, according to the documents.

Recordings

One of the videotapes shows unknown children, apparently ages 4 through 7, playing at the beach. The children, who were wearing bathing suits, were either playing in the sand or the water. The footage featured closeup shots of various parts of the children’s anatomies.

“The camera appears to be concealed in such a manner that the children and adults did not know that they were being recorded,” the papers state.

On another videotape of prepubescent children playing at the beach in bathing suits, Csanadi’s voice, while he is speaking on a cellphone, can be heard, according to Det Frank.

Another videotape had footage of unknown children getting on and off a school bus with the word Newtown and the number 31 painted on the bus’s side. “The footage was filmed from inside a motor vehicle. There was also footage of prepubescent girls playing on a playground,” the court papers state.

Also, another videotape contained homemade footage that revealed the image of a computer screen with young girls, approximately ages 4 through 7, modeling bathing suits and bathing in a shower with their clothing on, the documents state. The videotape also contained images of 12 naked prepubescent girls, it adds.

“David Csanadi’s voice is heard in the background as a young child learning to talk is heard playing with toys,” according to the affidavit.

One of the videotapes shows footage of children playing in Treadwell Park and was apparently being made while looking outward toward the children from a bathroom area, the court papers state.

Another sequence contains video taken at the Newtown boat launch showing children in bathing suits with their families.

Another segment shows children playing with a sprinkler hose in front of a home, according to the documents.

Yet another segment shows Csanadi buying lemonade in front of a home from three children, who are about 4 to 7 years old, the court papers add.

Other videos which appeared to be “homemade” featured visually graphic sequences involving nudity and inappropriate touching of young girls, including sexual contact, according to the court documents.

Besides the evidence that was seized from Csanadi through the search-and-seizure warrant, police obtained other evidence.

That evidence includes one CD containing downloaded child pornography. The evidence also includes photographs of the alleged victims as identified by their parents, according to the documents.

The court papers list Csanadi’s marital status as single and his occupation as a landscaper employed by a Southbury firm.

Csanadi, who is a lifelong resident of town, has two prior convictions stemming from arrests made by Newtown police. They are a 1998 conviction on first-degree criminal mischief, which is serious vandalism, and also a 2001 conviction for violation of probation.