FARMINGTON – A Wilton man was sentenced to four years in prison Friday, as part of an arranged plea to felony unlawful sexual contact.
Peter Essman, 65 of Wilton, previously pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact, a Class C felony, and unlawful sexual touching, a misdemeanor. As part of the plea arrangement Essman received a four-year prison sentence, with all but up to one year suspended, followed by four years of probation.
Each count relates to Essman’s actions toward two female juveniles, both 14 years old when the sexual touching occurred between Feb. 1, 2011 and Feb. 1, 2012. Allegations were originally brought to the Wilton Police Department through a Department of Health and Human Services referral.
According to evidence that the state intended to present had the case gone to trial, previously related by Assistant District Attorney James Andrews, the two victims knew Essman when he gave them “back rubs and hugs” which sometimes resulted in Essman touching them inappropriately.
Following his release, Essman would face four years of probation, as well as registering with the state in accordance with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act for 10 years. Conditions of his probation would include having no contact with the victims or any female under the age of 16, as well as Essman receiving sex offender counseling.
Essman received a 364 day sentence on the misdemeanor sexual touching charge, to be served concurrent to the felony sentence.
Prior to accepting the arranged sentence, Justice Donald Marden noted that the attorneys, an attorney representing Child Protective Services and Essman had met in chambers to discuss a third child associated with Essman. In addition to the two victims, Essman was ordered to have no contact with this individual until her 18 birthday. That third child wishes to have contact with Essman, according to Marden.
Marden also noted that statements submitted by the victims indicated a dissatisfaction with the sentence, specifically the unsuspected portion of the four years.
There is so much of this in this community—there are “traditions” of child exploitation and exploitation of women/ female family members going back many generations around here. Education and a commitment to rejecting these traditions by the entire community is needed. I don’t know a single female or male in this area that is not the victim of an assault by a family member in their childhood- not a single one. They vary in degree of severity, and I am not talking about someone being spanked for discipline. There is so much violence and exploitation woven into the psycho/social norms here—people have it happen to them, they don’t speak up, they don’t get help, they pass the same tradition oof accepting and/or perpetrating and not changing on the next generation.
Stay Classy, I’m very sorry for every single person you know. I was born and raised in New Sharon and was never assaulted or victimized by a family member. The closest I ever came to being assaulted was while I was in college in Bangor.
While I agree that more needs to be done to prevent abuse and stricter punishments should be enforced on those convicted of abuse, I have a hard time believing that more than a small minority in our community accepts or perpetrates that type of behavior. Rather than making unfair accusations about the community as a whole, we should be attempting to change the legal system that allows criminals to plead insanity or some ridiculous argument such as ‘I was abused as a child and didn’t know any better’ or ‘I was under the influence of ______’ to receive a lesser sentence. And jail/prison should not be considered free room and board with cable tv.
Four years with all but one suspended? That’s it???? WOW!! That will teach him.
Well said Amanda. Sounds like Classy is possibly from away… Every single person that you know from this area, Really? I’m not so sure. I do know it is a problem and it’s not just in this area.
I do not know the details other than what I’ve read here and from other newspapers but feel there must have been more than a simple back rub that actually transpired.
Moth, I don’t think a back rub would get you 4 or more years (all but 1 suspended) if that is what really happened.
I have compassion for anyone who was damaged from this whole mess. I hope they find the help needed to recover and have a ‘normal’ and hopefully productive life. And no, I do not know any of the people involved.
Why do we keep making plea deals with these criminals? I just don’t get it. He sexually assaulted a child and gets a slap on the wrist. What would happen if we made the punishment fit the crime?
Amanda and Dean…………….my family has lived on the same property in Franklin country for over 100 years now. Several of my relatives going back multiple generations have been school teachers in the region. My great grandparents and grandparents talked about cases of child exploitation, domestic violence, incest in people they knew—-and how there was (still is) a culture of keeping quiet, hiding, enabling.
I have personally helped people seek shelter from abuse and report abuse to the authorities. I have also listened to many accounts of abuse and exploitation experienced and/or witnessed.
One of the reasons some people may not be aware of how pervasive it is in this region is because people hide it, feel ashamed, and very often a big element is they are TRAPPED in a situation they can not get out of and have chosen to stay silent for fear of things getting any worse and believing their is no hope of a better life for themselves.
Our local police do take these issues very seriously and our local Safe Voices also provide wonderful resources and assistance to individuals looking for help.
Irene, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen. I’m saying it doesn’t happen to everyone, not everyone in this area is okay with it, and it is not specific to this area.