Mawhinney sues convicted sex offender over defaulted 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.