Plea extension granted in sexual abuse case

On Dec. 12, Stamford Superior Court Judge Kenneth B. Povodator granted the Town of Wilton and the Wilton Board of Education’s motion for a 30-day extension of time to plea in the most recent school-related sexual abuse lawsuit filed against them.

A second Wilton family, represented by Paul Slager and Michael Kennedy of Stamford’s Silver Golub & Teitell LLP, is suing the town and education board for at least $15,000 after they claim their son, referred to as “Boy Doe,” was sexually exploited by former Miller-Driscoll paraprofessional Eric Von Kohorn in 2013-14.

Von Kohorn worked at Miller-Driscoll from 2007 until he was arrested in August 2014 and charged with first-degree possession of child pornography and promoting a minor in an obscene performance. He is also accused of sexually assaulting a female student (“Girl Doe”), whose family is also suing the town and school district, at the school during the 2012-13 school year.

He pled guilty to the reduced charge of second-degree illegal possession of child pornography and was sentenced to six years in prison, suspended after two years served, and 10 years probation in October 2015.

According to the new complaint against the Town of Wilton and Board of Education, filed on Oct. 19, Von Kohorn sexually exploited Boy Doe when he was a 4- and 5-year-old preschool student during the winter and spring semesters of 2013 and the 2013-14 school year.

After Miller-Driscoll Special Education Director Fred Rapcyznski, who retired earlier this year, received reports of disturbing conduct by Von Kohorn relating to interactions with Girl Doe in early January 2013, he and the Human Resources Department reassigned Von Kohorn to a different classroom, according to the complaint.

Boy Doe was a student in Von Kohorn’s new classroom and had “frequent contact with Von Kohorn,” according to the complaint.

Although Boy Doe was fully toilet trained, Von Kohorn “regularly took [him] alone into the Miller-Driscoll school bathrooms,” where he “sexually exploited and injured Boy Doe by taking digital images of [him] while his pants were down,” according to the complaint.

With the granted motion of extension, the Town of Wilton and Wilton Board of Education have “up to and including” Jan. 29, 2017, to evaluate the complaint and respond to it.

Click here to learn more about the case.