by January 28 – TORRINGTON – A Sharon man and former University of Connecticut student was arrested Tuesday morning at risk of injury to a minor.
According to the Connecticut State Police, the arrest stemmed from an incident that happened last summer.
State police said that at approximately 6:08 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2022, troopers from Troop B barracks in North Canaan responded to a residence in the city of Norfolk at the request of a concerned parent who had discovered a sexually suggestive text message on the cell phone. telephone of their young child.
According to state police, upon their arrival at the residence, the parent explained that they had found text messages of a sexual nature between their minor child and someone, believed to be an older man, on the minor’s cell phone.
State police said the text conversation indicated that the young person and the unknown person planned to meet on the night of July 31, 2022 at a business near the young person’s home to drink alcoholic beverages and suck each other .
During the exchange, according to state police, the unknown person had sent the youth a photo of the back of a business near the youth’s home, suggesting they had arrived in the area.
Text messages exchanged over the ensuing hours, according to state police, suggest the two had met face to face during the night, and text messages from the minor contained the phrase “I’m so drunk.”
State police also said the parent went on to explain that they had noticed the youngster possessing vaping materials, which would be too expensive for them to pay for themselves.
The minor’s cell phone was seized as evidence, according to state police. During the investigation, state police discovered that the cell phone number used by the unknown person was associated with a man identified as Leonardo Villanes-Medina, 23, of Sharon, Connecticut, who was also known to be on the UConn Storrs campus lived.
State police said investigators learned that Villanes-Medina was the subject of a previous arrest for second-degree sexual assault and that the case was pending in court. They also found that Villanes-Medina had also previously been arrested by UConn police in April 2022 for fourth-degree sexual assault and that case was also pending in court.
Per state police, the UConn Police Department was able to confirm that the phone number in their records for Villanes-Medina matched the phone number used by the unknown individual to contact the child victim in this investigation. Subsequently, an arrest warrant for Villanes-Medina was requested and granted by the court.
According to state police, Villanes-Medina arrived at Torrington Superior Court at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to appear for unrelated matters and was being held by judicial marshals under the active warrant. At 11:33 a.m., troopers arrived at the courthouse processing area and served the arrest warrant, charging Villanes-Medina with risk of injury/impairment to a minor’s morals.
According to state police, Villanes-Medina was released into the custody of judicial marshals after his arrest, held on a $100,000.00 bail set by the court, and arraigned that same day.
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