In a case that is expected to cause headaches for proponents of same-sex adoption, a married same-sex couple living in Glastonbury, Connecticut will go to trial after several of their adopted children accused the men of sexually abusing them.
The Daily News is reporting that George Harasz, 49, and his partner, Douglas Wirth, 45, were expected to be sentenced Friday in Hartford Superior Court in a plea deal concerning the sexual assault of two of their adopted children when proceedings were halted by new allegations against the pair.
Initially, police say two of the couple’s nine adopted children, one aged five and the other aged 15, accused the couple of sexual assault. They also accused the men of physically abusing them and forcing them to sleep in closets.
But because other children in the home said they weren’t abused and there was a lack of forensic evidence to prove the allegations, attorneys settled on a plea deal that would result in lesser charges being file against both men.
At the last minute, however, the couple’s attorneys decided to pull out of the plea deal and go to a trial in order to fully clear their names.
But in the meantime, three more children from the home came forward with allegations of sexual abuse, which led prosecutors and the judge to say a trial is definitely in order in what is turning into a much more explosive case than expected.
“I think the only proper resolution of this matter is to try it,” said prosecutor David Zagaja, according to the Hartford Courant.
Judge Joan Alexander agreed, saying that a trial would be “in the interest of justice. The facts must be shown and must be shown publicly.”
Harasz and Wirth ran a dog breeding business at their home known as “The Puppy Guy” and adopted nine children – all male – beginning in 2000.
They were arrested in 2011 following an investigation of sexual abuse allegations by two of the children who have been removed from the home.
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