WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut man who informed authorities his stepmother held him captive of their dwelling for 20 years since he was a boy has requested why his she isn’t behind bars whereas awaiting trial, a state prosecutor stated Friday.
Don Therkildsen Jr., a supervisory assistant state’s legal professional, made the comment throughout a courtroom listening to in Waterbury for Kimberly Sullivan, who pleaded not responsible Friday to expenses that included kidnapping and felony assault. Sullivan was ordered to be positioned on digital monitoring, and Therkildsen additionally requested for home arrest over issues she may flee.
“This sufferer is afraid. This sufferer lives in concern,” Therkildsen stated in courtroom. “I launched myself to the sufferer, defined who I used to be. His first query on this concern is, ‘Why is she out strolling round once I was locked up in a room for 20 years?’”
Sullivan, 57, posted $300,000 bail after she was arrested March 12. She has denied allegations that she stored her stepson locked in a small room of their Waterbury dwelling and restricted his meals and liquids a lot that he weighed solely 69 kilos (31 kilograms) when he was rescued. He’s 5-feet-9-inches tall (1.75 meters tall).
Sullivan’s lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis, objected to the home arrest request and stated Sullivan has complied with all situations since she posted bail. He additionally stated threats have been made towards Sullivan and confining her to accommodate arrest at one location would put her in peril.
The 32-year-old man set a hearth in the home on Feb. 17 in an effort to be free, police stated. He was rescued by firefighters and brought to a hospital, the place workers stated he was emaciated from malnutrition.
He told police that he was locked within the small room with no warmth or air-con for many of day-after-day since he was about 11 years outdated, allowed out solely briefly to do chores. His father, Kregg Sullivan, let him out of the room for longer intervals, however he died final 12 months, police stated.
He stated he was hungry on a regular basis. He was unenrolled from Waterbury’s public college system in 2004 after educators contacted state baby welfare officers with issues about his well-being, police stated. He apparently was going to be home-schooled.
State and native authorities have been trying into how this might have occurred, and a few are calling for stricter oversight of home-schooling.
Waterbury police have stated they visited Sullivan’s dwelling twice in 2005 and there have been nothing to warrant concern.
A former principal on the elementary college the person attended as a toddler, Tom Pannone, informed WVIT-TV that faculty officers repeatedly referred to as Sullivan and the state Division of Youngsters and Households, or DCF, over issues that he was too skinny and was stealing meals and consuming issues out of the rubbish.
Police stated DCF staff visited the house, but it surely’s not clear what the company did. The person informed police that Sullivan made him inform authorities all the pieces was OK beneath the specter of his meals being lowered.
DCF beforehand stated it couldn’t instantly discover any data involving the household. On Friday the company introduced that it discovered some data in its archives and was reviewing them.
Officers didn’t instantly share particulars of the data and stated they might be offering them to police and state investigators after finishing a search and evaluate.
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