Judge keeps warrants sealed in ex-NFA coach sexual assault case

A New London Superior Court judge continued the seal on the arrest warrant and three search warrants to Nov. 28 in the case of Anthony Facchini, charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault in alleged relations with two Norwich Free Academy students while he was an assistant athletic coach there.

Facchini, 25, of 210 Broadway, Norwich, appeared briefly Tuesday before Judge Hillary Strackbein and his case was continued to Nov. 28. Facchini was charged Sept. 12 with two counts of second-degree sexual assault for allegedly having sexual relations with two minor students at NFA while he was an assistant coach at the school.

Also Sept. 12, Norwich police, with assistance from the FBI Computer Analysis Response Team and the state police Computer Crimes Unit, executed a search and seizure warrant on the NFA campus.

State’s Attorney Michael Regan asked Strackbein to seal all four warrants — the arrest warrant, a search warrant for Facchini’s iPhone and iPad, a search warrant for an iPhone owned by an unidentified party and a search warrant for “electronic computer equipment located on the campus of the Norwich Free Academy.”

Regan said the warrants are part of an ongoing investigation into “allegations of failure to report by staff at NFA,” and releasing the warrants could compromise that investigation.

Regan also said the warrant seal dates did not match Facchini’s court dates, and asked that they be paired to the same dates.

Strackbein agreed, and said she hopes the investigation can be concluded by the Nov. 28 date “because there’s interest from the press.”

Attorney Jason Burdick, who represents one of the alleged student victims, said last week that he believes NFA officials knew about the first student victim as early as April 2017, in contrast to information NFA provided him on the timeline that led to Facchini’s termination as a coach on July 12 and his arrest in September.

NFA attorney Kyle McClain wrote to Burdick: “Based on all the information shared with NFA by the Norwich Police Department and DCF, NFA has not been given any reason to believe that Facchini and (blacked out name) ever engaged in sexual conduct on NFA’s campus. Based on the information NFA has been provided, any sexual conduct occurred off campus and outside school hours.”

According to the timeline provided to the attorney, an NFA assistant coach first heard of an alleged relationship between Facchini and a student on Friday, June 8, 2018 and reported it orally on Saturday, June 9 and in writing on Monday, June 11.

DCF and Norwich police started investigations and met with NFA officials on June 11, and Facchini was banned from campus that day. He was terminated officially July 12 in a certified letter that was returned. A second termination was sent Aug. 8.