City man gets 31⁄2 years in attempted kidnapping

TORRINGTON — A city man will serve more than three years in prison in connection with an October 2016 case where Torrington police responded for an attempted abduction near Iowa Street and Funston Avenue.

Phouvadone Soundara, then 40, of Greenwoods Road, and Kim Keo Saelee, then 38, of Yorkshire Street, Torrington, were arrested in connection with the October 2016 incident and charged with a series of offenses, including criminal attempt to commit first-degree kidnapping with a firearm, first-degree unlawful restraint, criminal use of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, seconddegree breach of peace and interfering with police.

Soundara pleaded guilty to a charge of firstdegree unlawful restraint Friday in state Superior Court, according to Assistant Clerk Bob Stearns. He was sentenced to a flat three-and-a-half years in prison.

According to an affidavit seeking a warrant for Soundara’s arrest, a caller reported “two males were trying to force a female into a vehicle” and that they heard the woman yelling for help repeatedly on Oct. 28 at 2:31 a.m.

After a foot pursuit, officers found the woman, later identified as a New Hartford resident, and Soundara.

A second man was later found by police as well. This person identified himself as “Jonathan Saeelee,” which an officer suspected was a false identity.

The three were involved in a confrontation on Oct. 28, during which a handgun was brandished and in the possession of both Soundara and Saelee, police said. Police determined that the three knew one another.

Soundara and Saelee were later found to be convicted felons, and Jonathan Saelee was found to be a listed alias of Kim Keo Saelee, police said.

Officers found a handgun behind an Iowa Street property that matched a given description and determined that it was loaded, but did not have a bullet in the chamber.

Saelee pleaded guilty to the criminal possession of a firearm and a charge of sale of narcotics Nov. 14 and was given an effective sentence of 15 years, suspended after seven, with five years probation in January.