Warrant Describes Events Leading To Sexual Assault Charges Against Former Intern

By Andrew Gorosko

A now-unsealed arrest warrant affidavit describes the circumstances that led Middlebury police last month to arrest a former Newtown High School (NHS) guidance office intern on sexual assault charges for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a male NHS student under age 16.

In the case, Jillian Gehrkens, 26, of Middlebury, who is married, has pleaded “not guilty” in Waterbury Superior Court to two counts of second degree sexual assault and one count of risk of injury or impairing the morals of a minor.

Ms Gehrkens is represented by defense attorney William F. Dow III. Her next scheduled court appearance in Waterbury is on October 28. She is free on $25,000 bail on the three felony charges.

In Danbury Superior Court, Ms Gehrkens also is facing a charge of violation of the conditions of release. She has pleaded “not guilty” to that charge, which was lodged by Newtown police on September 19, stemming from her alleged contact with the victim after having been ordered not do so by a judge. The former NHS intern has filed a written promise to appear in Danbury Superior Court on that charge on October 24.

Ms Gehrkens is now under house arrest and is wearing an electronic monitoring device to help court officials keep tabs on her whereabouts. Waterbury Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti ordered Ms Gehrkens to wear the device after learning that she had had contact with the victim. She is allowed to leave home for three hours per day to seek work.

Ms Gehrkens had worked as a NHS guidance office intern from January 2004 to January 2005. While an NHS intern, she was affiliated with Western Connecticut State University in Danbury as a graduate student.

Portions of Ms Gehrkens’ sealed criminal case file were released for public review two weeks after her August 29 arrest. Portions of that file remain sealed by the court. The victim’s identity has not been revealed by authorities.

According to an August 25 arrest warrant affidavit submitted by Middlebury Police Officer Anthony J. Quicquaro, he was contacted by Sergeant Phil Hynes of the Newtown Police Department on August 23, who informed him that “their agency was conducting an investigation into a sexual relationship that had begun in April of 2004 until its conclusion sometime after January 2005. The victim was a 15-year-old male. The suspect was [the male’s] guidance intern Jillian Gehrkens,  aka Jillian Saren.”

On August 22, Newtown police had received notification from the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) stating that it had received a referral from Newtown Assistant School Superintendent Alice Jackson that Ms Gehrkens “was having a sexual relationship with a male student who was attending Newtown High School,” according to the court papers.         

The victim had stated to Newtown Police Youth Officer Dana Schubert that he first started to become friendly with Ms Gehrkens in December 2003, when he was 15 years old, and that in mid-April 2004 Ms Gehrkens drove the boy in her auto to her home in Middlebury where the two had sexual intercourse, according to the court papers.

“According to the victim, the sexual sessions (as the victim referred to them) continued once or twice a week with regularity until November of 2004. At the conclusion of the school day, Gehrkens would drive the victim to her home in Middlebury where the ‘sessions’ would occur. Afterwards, she would drive him back to his residence in Newtown prior to his parents arriving home. At times, he would stay at the Gehrkens home and have dinner with Gehrkens and her husband Peter. She would then drive him [victim] home later. The victim’s parents were aware that Gehrkens and the victim had a close relationship, but were unaware that the relationship was sexual,” according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

The court papers state that the victim on August 23 voluntarily gave Newtown police two family desktop computers, a laptop computer, and a cellular telephone. The computers contained email messages and the cellular telephone contained text messages that pertained to the student’s relationship with Gehrkens, according to the court documents.

Also on August 23, the victim voluntarily gave Newtown police documents pertaining to a November 6-7, 2004,  stay at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Syracuse, N.Y., where Gehrkens and the victim had stayed overnight and had sexual intercourse after having attended a football game, according to the documents.

The court papers state that the victim also voluntarily gave Newtown police a bag containing numerous cards, letters, and notes signed by “Jill,” a stuffed animal, movie ticket stubs, musical concert ticket stubs, and a woman’s T-shirt and panties. The victim also provided police with several photographs of Gehrkens and the victim together, explaining that the various items were mementos and gifts from the times that the two had spent together.

On August 23, Officer Quicquaro and other Middlebury police officers executed a search-and- seizure warrant at Gehrkens’ 807 Longmeadow Road residence in Middlebury, seizing two computers and a cellular telephone.

According to the victim, correspondence had been made with him through the three devices in the form of emails, text messages, and telephone calls, the court papers state.

Based on evidence at the scene, it was apparent that an attempt had been made to demagnetize or “wipe out” the contents of the hard drive of a laptop computer, according to police.

On August 24, Lt Guisti of the Middlebury police contacted the victim’s home because he wanted to conduct another interview with the victim, but was told by the victim’s mother that her son did not want to be interviewed again, the court papers state.

“Her son stated to her, ‘I’ve told the story twice already, and I’m not going to do it again. I’ve already ruined her life,’” according to the arrest warrant affidavit.

The victim, who was 15 years old at the onset of the sexual relationship, turned age 16 in April 2004, and the last sexual episode of the relationship occurred in January 2005, according to the court papers. The victim is now 17.

Additional Charge

In a September 19 statement, Newtown police said that following an investigation by Newtown police and Middlebury police, it was determined that Ms Gehrkens had twice violated the conditions of her August 30 release from Waterbury Superior Court after her arraignment, which included that Ms Gehrkens have no contact with the victim of the alleged crimes.

“The investigation determined that contact between the accused and the victim had occurred after the judge had set the condition of [Ms Gehrkens’] release prohibiting that,” police said.

In a September 12 motion filed by the Waterbury Superior Court prosecutor, the prosecutor had sought revocation of Ms Gehrkens’ $25,000 bond because she had allegedly had contact with the victim.

The victim had provided police with a written statement detailing a meeting that occurred between himself and Ms Gehrkens on September 5 at about midnight, according to the court motion.

The victim acknowledged that he had initiated the contact, but added that Ms Gehrkens arranged to meet him on his street in Newtown in the middle of the night, the court papers state.

“She transported the minor alone in her motor vehicle for approximately one-half hour…she questioned the minor regarding his contact with the court system thus far, and…she subsequently dropped him off on his street after the meeting,” according to the court motion.

In seeking bond revocation, the prosecutor stated that Ms Gehrkens is charged with three Class B felonies, which could result in her imprisonment of ten or more years for each count, and thus a bond revocation was warranted. A conviction on a second-degree sexual assault charge carries a mandatory minimum nine-month jail sentence.

On September 16, the prosecutor withdrew the bond revocation motion when Judge Iannotti ordered that Ms Gehrkens submit to house arrest and electronic monitoring to help court officials keep tabs on her whereabouts.