STAMFORD — A judge has refused to reduce the bail for a Norwalk man accused of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl.
Judge Richard Comerford said he rejected the request mostly because new evidence shows the 55-year-old man’s DNA was found on the girl and her underwear.
Rafael Reyes-Santos has been charged with first-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a child and fourth-degree sexual assault. He has been held since his arrested last June in lieu of a $500,000 court appearance bond at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.
Defense attorney Alex Hernandez pleaded for the bail reduction during a hearing Thursday in state Superior Court in Stamford. Hernandez told the judge his client was a hard-working carpenter who earned $15 an hour.
He said Reyes-Santos has been in the U.S. for more than eight years and has been married for more than 18 years. Hernandez said his client has seven brothers and a sister living in Connecticut and he was not a flight risk.
Hernandez said Reyes-Santos had no criminal records here or in his native country of the Dominican Republic, where he served in the military.
“Based on the totality of the facts and that this gentleman has never (violated) the law and he is a permanent resident of the United States, as your honor saw, various other letters from members of the community that he has gone out of his way to help, $500,000 based on these circumstances is a bit high,” said Hernandez, requesting bail be reduced to $50,000.
But Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Paul Ferencek argued the bail should actually be raised to $750,000 because of the DNA test results.
Comerford agreed the DNA report put the state in a stronger position, but ruled to keep the bond at $500,000 because “there are no substantive changes other than the report” to the case.
Reyes-Santos is due back in court March 7.
jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com