Torrington case prompts proposal to make sexual contact with animals illegal

An unusual Torrington case of alleged abuse involving a dog has prompted the state Sentencing Commission to consider proposing a law change making it illegal to have sexual contact with an animal or dead human body.

The proposal stemmed from the case of Robert Hoetzel, a former Torrington resident, who was charged in 2019 with two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault in connection with incidents involving a dog and seconddegree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child in connection with incidents involving a girl while she was 14 and 15 in 2018, according to court records.

Hoetzel’s attorney successfully argued in 2020 that Connecticut law defines sexual contact as contact with a human, leading Litchfield Superior Court Judge John Danaher to dismiss the charges that pertained to the dog. Hoetzel pleaded guilty in February 2020 to second-degree sexual assault for the incidents involving the girl was sentenced to two years in prison, court records indicate.

The case and the loophole in state statute caught the attention of former Chief State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo, who was seeking a change in the law as it pertained to sexual contact with animals and dead human bodies in 2020 just as the pandemic shut down the legislature for that year’s session.

The proposal didn’t gain traction again until it was considered by the commission’s subcommittee on animal cruelty. The panel will present information to the entire commission during its meeting Wednesday on changing the state’s statute on fourthdegree sexual assault to define sexual contact with an animal or a dead human body as illegal.

State statutes already make it illegal to have sexual contact with an animal or dead human body. However, the sections of the law that refer to what constitutes illegal sexual contact only include crimes against people and not animals or dead human bodies, according to a memo issued to the commission by subcommittee member staff.

The law change proposed by the subcommittee would change the statute defining what constitutes fourthdegree sexual assault to include engaging in sexual contact with an animal or a dead human body. The same statute would be changed to define “sexual contact” to include any contact with the intimate parts of an animal or dead human body for the purpose of sexual gratification, the memo stated.

The proposal would have to receive the approval of the commission before it can be sent to the legislature during the General Assembly session due to start in January. The proposed law would have to be vetted and approved most likely by the Judiciary Committee before it can be presented to the House and the Senate for a vote.