Former Vazzy’s worker gets 30 months for sexually assaulting girl
BRIDGEPORT – A former dishwasher, whose arrest for sexually assaulting a teenaged girl set off a chain reaction that led to the arrest of popular restaurateur John Vazzano, was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Jaime Sena, 57, previously pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree sexual assault and was sentenced Friday to five years, suspended after he serves 30 months in prison and followed by 10 years of probation by Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton.
A Mexican citizen, Sena also faces deportation.
“He cooperated with the investigation and stayed here to face prosecution,” said Sena’s lawyer, Frank Riccio II, who argued for a lesser sentence.
But Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Ann Lawlor told the judge the plea bargain of 30 months was appropriate and that it spared the victim from having to come to court and relive the incident.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Sena and a cook, Jose Tsenkush, 51, an Ecuadorian citizen, are accused of sexually assaulting the girl in the Bridgeport Vazzy’s restaurant in December 2019.
Police said both men had been working at Vazzy’s for more than 10 years. Tsenkush is still being sought by police.
During a forensic interview, the affidavit states, the girl said during the first couple of months of her employment, the workers in the kitchen would be “creepy” and compliment her body. She stated the worst offender was Sena, who would hug her and tried putting money down her shirt.
In December 2019, the affidavit states, Sena ripped her clothing in a stairwell in the restaurant and began touching and kissing her. He then tried to give her money, the affidavit states.
Vazzano was later charged with bribery of a witness, third-degree hindering prosecution and interfering with an officer, after police said in February 2020, during the funeral service of an unrelated person, Vazzano approached the father of the girl and told the father that the arrest of the sexual assault suspect “is not a good idea.”
He then offered to give the victim a job at another of his restaurants and a $1,000 gift card to Macy’s, the arrest affidavit states.
The affidavit states that Vazzano later lied to members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force on the whereabouts of the two sex assault suspects and that Vazzano’s cell phone call logs showed he had often texted the two men.
Vazzano was later granted accelerated rehabilitation by a judge, a pretrial probation program, with one condition — he provide a luncheon to a charitable organization in Bridgeport on Feb. 20, the two-year anniversary of his alleged bribe attempt.
Vazzano was also fined $100,000 by the state Department of Labor for labor violations at his Broadbridge Road restaurant in connection with the case.