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Police received a call from the concerned parent around 6:00 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2022, reporting a text thread between their child and an older man indicating that the two had met up the night prior, according to the Connecticut State Police.
Litchfield County resident Leonardo Villanes-Medina, age 23, of Sharon, was arrested on Tuesday, Jan. 24 for charges associated with the meet-up.
The texts showed that the pair had planned to meet up to share alcoholic drinks and give each other hickeys behind a nearby business. The man sent a photo of the location, and the child later sent a text saying "I'm so drunk," leading police to believe they had indeed met up.
The parent also found that the child had vaping supplies that they could not afford on their own.
Police seized the child's phone and learned that the unknown man's phone number was associated with Villanes-Medina, of Sharon Ridge Road in Sharon, who also lived on the UConn Storrs campus. It's unclear if he is enrolled at the university.
Villanes-Medina had been arrested two times prior to this incident, for second-degree sexual assault and fourth-degree sexual assault. Both cases were pending in court.
Police acquired an arrest warrant for Villanes-Medina after the UConn Police Department confirmed that the phone number matched the man's name in their records.
Villanes-Medina went to the Torrington Superior Court around 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 24 on an unrelated matter, and was arrested about an hour later for the warrant. He was charged with risk of injury or impairing the morals of a minor.
After his arrest, Villanes-Medina was held on a $100,000 bond and arraigned the same day.
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