Convicted felon sentenced in 2017 sexual assault case

DANBURY — A man with ties to the Danbury area and a history of prior convictions will serve at least a decade behind bars after police say he sexually assaulted a relative five years ago.

Stephen Sebjan was sentenced Tuesday at state Superior Court in Danbury to 20 years in jail, suspended after 10 years, plus 35 years probation after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual assault. He was also sentenced to five years in jail after pleading guilty to one count of third-degree sexual assault.

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty after accepting a deal in April, which resulted in several other charges being dropped, according to court records, which show his case had been heading to trial at the time.

Sebjan originally faced additional first- and thirddegree sexual assault charges, as well as seconddegree strangulation, second-degree threatening, third-degree promotion of prostitution and sale of narcotics charges.

The charges stemmed from allegations made by a relative of Sebjan, who said he sexually assaulted her on several occasions in 2017. The abuse was reported to the state Department of Children and Families in November of that year, according to the warrant for Sebjan’s arrest. The victim said she first met Sebjan after he reached out to her through Facebook in the spring of 2017, and spent time “getting to know” him over the coming months.

According to the warrant for his arrest, Sebjan was a narcotics dealer with a history of drug abuse, who supplied drugs like crack-cocaine, heroin and ecstasy to the victim, who was 18 at the time.

The victim told authorities Sebjan first forced her to perform a sexual act on him in May 2017. She said it happened in North Grosvenordale — a village in the Windham County town of Thompson — and that Sebjan threatened her to not tell anyone.

According to the warrant for Sebjan’s arrest, the victim stayed with him and his significant other in Danbury for about a month. She told police they slept in “a trailer in a parking area” in Danbury, as well as a unit at a local self-storage facility.

The victim said they did “a lot of drugs” and that Sebjan sexually assaulted her during that time — including once at a hotel in Danbury, where she said Sebjan forced her to have sex with him.

She said the last sexual assault occurred at an apartment near Danbury Hospital in October 2017. According to the warrant for Sebjan’s arrest, the victim said she was having withdrawal and Sebjan made her perform a sexual act on him for a bag of heroin.

When interviewed in January 2018, police said Sebjan “did not have the expected reaction of disgust or something else negative” when asked about the allegations made by the victim and “had no reaction” during a discussion about him being “perceived as a child molester.”

According to the warrant for his arrest, Sebjan described the victim as needy and manipulative and denied having any sexual contact with her.

While locked up at the Bridgeport Correctional Center for a separate case, Sebjan was charged in connection with the alleged violations against the victim in 2018.

In 2005, Sebjan pleaded not contest to a rape charge stemming from an October 2003 incident in New Milford, according to court records. According to police, Sebjan held a woman in his car against her will and took her to a residence, where he sexually and physically assaulted her.

Sebjan’s more recent convictions include second-degree assault resulting in serious physical injury, third-degree assault and sale of hallucinogens/ narcotics in August 2018.

He is being held at the Cheshire Correctional Institution, according to the state Department of Correction.