Mawhinney sues convicted sex offender over mortgage
Kent Mawhinney, charged in the disappearance and death of Jennifer Dulos, is seeking payment on a defaulted mortgage from an incarcerated sex offender who once told state police he was offering “slave training” to children, court documents said.
Simon Hessler was sentenced in 2020 to nearly 30 years in federal prison on several state and federal charges related to the creation and possession of child pornography, including images he had taken on his cellphone as he sexually abused a girl under the age of 12, federal court documents said.
Mawhinney, a suspended attorney who is awaiting trial on a conspiracy to commit murder charge in the death and disappearance of New Canaan mother Jennifer Dulos, is suing Hessler in state court over a defaulted mortgage originally backed by a third party.
Mawhinney purchased the note for the mortgage and is now seeking payment from Hessler, who is in a federal prison in New York. The mortgage is for a home on North Park Street in Ellington that Hessler purchased in 2014 for $225,000, court documents and town records show.
With the unpaid taxes and fees, Mawhinney is asking a judge to order Hessler to pay him $349,465. But Mawhinney said in court documents Hessler “is incarcerated in a federal facility for a minimum of 20 years” and “he has no ability to pay the current debt.”
The circumstances of Mawhinney purchasing the defaulted mortgage are unclear. A judge ruled in May that Hessler was in default for not responding to the lawsuit, which was filed in November. Based on the ruling, Mawhinney filed for a judgment in the case on May 27. That motion has not been heard.
Hessler is expected to serve at least another 20 years in federal prison based on allegations he photographed his abuse of a young girl and told an undercover state police officer he was looking to “purchase” a 12-year-old girl for “three days of limitless sex” and “slave training,” federal court documents said.
Hessler agreed to pay the undercover officer $500 for use of a child, court documents said. As part of the deal, Hessler instructed the officer to “handcuff, gag and blindfold” a girl in a trailer where he had left the money, court documents said. In order to get paid, the officer had to photograph the “child,” who was actually a second undercover officer, and send Hessler a text with the photo, court documents said.
Hessler told the officer where the money could be found after receiving the text, court documents said. He was taken into custody as he was walking toward the trailer to retrieve the child he believed he had purchased, court documents said. Hessler pleaded guilty to several state and federal charges, including attempt to commit buying a child under the age of 16.
The sentences are running concurrently with
Hessler opting to remain in a federal prison. He will be required to register as a sex offender when he is released and will be under supervision for a number of years.
Mawhinney is representing himself in the mortgage lawsuit. He has not represented clients since his arrest on Jan. 7, 2020 on a conspiracy to commit murder charge in the Jennifer Dulos case.
The state’s Chief Disciplinary Counsel obtained a court order suspending Mawhinney’s law license while the case was pending.
Mawhinney has been accused of trying to create an alibi for his former client and longtime friend, Fotis Dulos, on the morning of the disappearance. Fotis Dulos was accused of attacking his estranged wife in the garage of her New Canaan home on May 24, 2019. Jennifer Dulos’ body has never been found, but she has been presumed dead by police and her family based on the blood evidence found in the garage of her home.
Fotis Dulos faced murder, kidnapping and other
charges when he died by suicide in January 2020.
Mawhinney and Michelle Troconis, a former girlfriend of Fotis Dulos, are the remaining defendants in the case. Mawhinney and Troconis have each pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mawhinney was incarcerated on $2 million bond until October 2020 — several weeks after he met with state police investigators. A state prosecutor has said Mawhinney will testify against Troconis is she takes her case to trial.
Mawhinney often represented Fotis Dulos in various land deals for his highend development company the Fore Group. The two were friends and Mawhinney also was going through an acrimonious divorce in 2019. He was charged with spousal sexual assault and accused of violating a protective order barring him from contacting her.
Those allegations will be settled Friday when he is sentenced to five years probation on a charge of violating a protective order.