New York City Man Arrested On Eight Sex Charges
Newtown Police have arrested a New York City man on eight sex-related charges after investigating an initial complaint that he allegedly had an inappropriate relationship with a local underage female.
Police said that after learning that they held a warrant for his arrest, Matthew A. Madden, 22, of Manhattan turned himself over to police at the police station on the afternoon of March 17 and was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault, three counts of risk of injury or impairing the morals of a minor, and three counts on enticing a minor by computer contact. All eight charges are felonies.
After arrest processing, police released Madden on $100,000 bail for an arraignment on the charges on April 5 in Danbury Superior Court.
On November 23, 2015, Officer Liam Seabrook, who is the police department's school resource officer at Newtown High School, received a complaint there concerning alleged sex offenses having occurred.
On that date, Officer Seabrook "began an investigation into an alleged inappropriate relationship between a juvenile and an older man," police said in a statement.
The complainant reported to police that Madden, who worked as a theater coach/director at Sabrina's Encore Productions at 316 South Main Street (State Route 25), had contacted the complainant through social media on the Internet and engaged in an inappropriate conversation, police said.
"The complainant reported that the conversation made them very uncomfortable," police said.
In response to a request for comment on the matter, Sabrina Post, the proprietor of the theater group, responded via e-mail, "Matt Madden is no longer employed at Sabrina's Encore Productions."
Ms Post had no further comment on the case, she also indicated.
Police said that through their investigation, they identified "several more victims" involving incidents dating back to 2011.
Police said that Madden had initiated conversations with the victims, using his position as a director at the theater group.
"The subsequent investigation revealed that Madden had a pattern of contacting young females through social media, and convincing these young females to meet him in secret," according to police.
"Madden would then attempt to engage in sexual contact with these juvenile girls and make them promise not to tell anyone. On several occasions, the juveniles did allegedly engage in consensual sexual acts," police said.