Newtown Man Sentenced For Sex Offense

By Andrew Gorosko

Danbury Superior Court Judge Patrick Carroll has sentenced a Newtown man to a six-month jail sentence for a sex crime against a child, following the man’s conviction on a charge of risk of injury to a minor, according to court documents.

Judge Carroll sentenced Jose Carlos Fernandes, 43, of 85 Sugar Street, Newtown, in a crowded courtroom on August 21.

Fernandes initially had been charged with three separate counts of first-degree sexual assault in connection with November 1997, August 1997, and February 1996 incidents.

Under a plea bargain agreement reached between Fernandes and state prosecutors, Fernandes entered a plea to one count of risk of injury to a minor under the provisions of the Alford Doctrine. Fernandes did not admit guilt, but agreed that the state has enough evidence against him to get a conviction. When a judge accepts an Alford plea, a finding of guilty is made on the court record.

The risk of injury conviction stems from sexual contact which Fernandes had had with a young male relative. That incident occurred in February 1996.

Under the terms of the plea bargain agreement, Fernandes technically received a seven-year prison sentence which will be suspended after six months of that sentence is served. After Fernandes gets out of jail, he will be on probation for 20 years. Judge Carroll ordered that Fernandes register as a convicted sex offender with the state’ sex offender registry.

The judge ordered that Fernandes not have any contact with the victim or the victim’s immediate family. The judge also ordered that Fernandes not have any unsupervised contact with people under age 18, except for Fernandes’ children.

 In a letter presented to the court, the victim in the risk of injury case stated that the sexual contact had begun when he was 9 years old. The male victim is now 21.

Before agreeing to the plea bargain, Fernandes had been facing the three first-degree sexual assault charges in cases involving young male and female victims.

If the charges which had been pending against Fernandes had gone to trial, he might have faced approximately 100 years in prison.

On his behalf, many members of the Danbury area Portuguese community submitted letters attesting to Fernandes’ good character.

First-degree sexual assault involves sexual intercourse, as defined by state statutes, with a person under age 13.

Risk of injury to a minor involves impairing the morals of a child under 16.