A 20-year-old Connecticut man faces a number of charges tied to accusations that he sexually assaulted a preteen girl several times after allegedly grooming her with candy, alcohol and vape devices as well as promises to marry her one day.
Adam Jaquith, 20, of Chaplin turned himself in on Tuesday on a warrant charging him with five counts each of first-degree sexual assault of a victim under 13 and illegal sexual contact with a minor, according to Connecticut State Police.
State police wrote in the warrant affidavit that the accusations took place when he was 16 and 17 years old in 2022 and 2023.
According to the warrant affidavit, a state police trooper began investigating the allegations on Aug. 21, 2023, a day before Jaquith turned 18. The investigation started when a woman filed a complaint at the Troop D barracks in Danielson. She told police that the victim, who was then 13, had disclosed to her the previous night that she had allegedly been sexually assaulted by Jaquith, the warrant affidavit said.
The woman gave police photographs of two text message conversations which she said showed Jaquith acknowledging the accusations, according to the warrant affidavit.
“Ok, YK how you raped me,” the victim allegedly wrote according to the warrant affidavit.
“Mhm,” Jaquith allegedly replied, the warrant affidavit said.
“Do you feel bad like at all,” the victim asked.
“Yes,” Jaquith allegedly responded, according to the warrant affidavit. “Why are you asking me this(?)”
The same day state police received the report, Jaquith’s father went to police in Windsor Locks and reported the allegations, the warrant affidavit said. He told police Jaquith’s mother had told him for the first time that, when he was 16, Jaquith allegedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl, according to the warrant.
The victim underwent a forensic interview in September 2023 when she alleged that she had been sexually assaulted multiple times and that it happened “almost every weekend” at one point, according to the warrant affidavit. She initially said the allegations started when she was 11 years old and Jaquith was 15 when he allegedly touched her sexually and forced her to perform sex acts “during multiple encounters,” according to the warrant affidavit.
Later on in the interview, the girl told investigators that the abuse began in September of 2022, when Jaquith would have been 17.
The girl told the forensic interviewer that she frequently had sleepovers at the home of Jaquith’s sister when she was in the fifth grade, according to the warrant. She claimed that she initially slept in the sister’s room before she began sleeping in Jaquith’s room.
Jaquith, the girl alleged, began grooming her with “candy, vapes and alcohol,” according to the warrant affidavit. She said he also allegedly told her he loved her and that he planned to marry her.
The first time he alleged sexually assaulted her, the girl said in the interview that she told Jaquith to stop but he continued, the warrant affidavit said. She later alleged said she was unsure whether she told him to stop.
In the summer 2023, the girl alleged that Jaquith visited her and got into her home through her bedroom window, according to the warrant affidavit. She claimed that she had not asked him to come over. During the visit, the girl alleged that there was sexual contact and, despite asking him to stop at some point, Jaquith allegedly kept going, according to the warrant affidavit.
The girl described another alleged sexual encounter in Jaquith’s bedroom, which left her in pain and crying, and an additional incident in his car where she accused him of sexually assaulting her in the backseat in March 2023, according to the warrant affidavit.
In June 2023 when she was 12 years old, the girl told investigators she had a sexual encounter with Jaquith and another girl her age in a wooded area in Chaplin behind a gas station, according to the warrant affidavit. Afterward, she calmed, Jaquith allegedly became enraged with how she acted and made threats of self-harm, carving her name into his arm, the warrant affidavit said.
The girl also alleged that Jaquith used “guns, knives and threats” to force her into sexual acts, according to the warrant affidavit. She alleged that Jaquith would make threats of self-harm and that he would point guns at her while making threats to slit her throat and shoot one of her family members, the warrant affidavit said. She said she later learned that the firearms were pellet guns.
According to the warrant affidavit, the girl alleged that she was forced to “send and get” nude photos. She also said she believes Jaquith had recorded some of his sexual assaults, the warrant affidavit said.
State police attempted to speak to Jaquith about the allegations in March 2024, but they were told he had retained an attorney and did not wish to speak, according to the warrant affidavit.
Jaquith was arraigned on Wednesday in Danielson Superior Court. According to court records, he did not enter a plea during the hearing.
Jaquith is free on $150,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court again on Friday, records show. Online court records reviewed Friday did not show that an attorney had filed an appearance to represent Jaquith.
