Sharon man, former UConn student arrested for risk of injury to a minor
Jan. 28—TORRINGTON — A Sharon man and former University of Connecticut student was arrested Tuesday morning for risk of injury to a minor.
According to Connecticut State Police, the arrest stemmed from an incident that occurred last summer.
State Police said that at approximately 6: 08 p. m. on Aug. 1, 2022, troopers from the Troop B Barracks in North Canaan responded to a residence in the Town of Norfolk at the request of a concerned parent who had discovered a sexually suggestive text message conversation on their juvenile child's cell phone.
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 juvenile child and someone, believed to be an older male, on the juvenile's cell phone.
State Police said that the text conversation indicated the juvenile and the unknown individual had planned to meet on the night of July 31, 2022, at a business located near the juvenile's home to drink alcoholic beverages and give each other hickeys.
Per State Police, during the exchange, the unknown person had sent the juvenile a photograph depicting the rear of a business near the juvenile's home, suggesting that they had arrived in the area.
Text messages exchanged in the hours that followed, according to State Police, suggest that the two had met in person during the night and text messages sent by the juvenile included the phrase " I'm so drunk."
State Police also said that the parent went on to explain that they had noticed that the juvenile possessed vaping materials, which would be too expensive for them to afford themselves.
The juvenile's cell phone was seized as evidence, according to State Police. During the investigation, State Police learned that the cellular telephone number used by the unknown individual was associated with a man identified as Leonardo Villanes- Medina, 23, of Sharon, Connecticut, who was also known to reside at the UConn Storrs campus.
State Police said that investigators learned that Villanes- Medina was the subject of a prior arrest for sexual assault in the second degree and that the case was pending in court. They also found that Villanes-Medina had also been arrested previously by the UConn Police Department in April 2022 for sexual assault in the fourth degree and that case was pending in court as well.
Per State Police, the UConn Police Department was able to confirm that the telephone number in their records for Villanes-Medina matched the telephone number used by the unknown person to contact the juvenile victim in this investigation. Subsequently, an arrest warrant for Villanes-Medina was applied for and granted by the court.
According to State Police, at approximately 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Villanes- Medina arrived at Torrington Superior Court to appear on unrelated matters and was detained by judicial marshals based upon the active arrest 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/ impairing the morals of a minor.
According to State Police, following his arrest, Villanes- Medina was released to the custody of judicial marshals, held on $100,000.00 court set bond and arraigned that same day.
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