Jean Bernard, 46, of Shelton, who worked as the youth minister at Mont des Olivier’s Seventh Day Adventist Church in Norwalk, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton to two counts of first-degree sexual assault and four counts of risk of injury to children.
While the charges apply to four young boys Bernard was charged with sexually assaulting in Bridgeport, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Colleen Zingaro told the judge that the plea deal worked out by the judge of 25 years in prison will cover all Bernard’s cases including those pending in the Stamford and Milford courts.
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“Do you agree the facts of the cases are basically correct?” the judge asked Bernard who stood before her in an orange prison jump suit.
“Yes,” Bernard responded.
Earlier Friday Bernard had rejected the plea deal despite the judge telling him he could face more than 100 years in prison if he was convicted at trial.
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“You are aware the victims are cooperative and willing to testify?” the judge told him.
Bernard’s lawyer, Lindy Urso, declined comment as he left the Bridgeport Judicial District Courthouse.
Bernard is accused of sexually assaulting eight boys, between the ages of 10 and 15, between 2010 and 2021 after meeting them through the church.
In the newest arrest warrant affidavit, he is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy at the boy’s home in Bridgeport and in the parking lot behind Madison School.
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The boy later told police that Bernard told the boy he would kill him, his sister and his father if the boy told anyone what Bernard had done to him, the affidavit states.
The affidavit states that Bernard sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy in the parking lot of a Sylvan Avenue supermarket here.
The affidavit continues that after the allegations regarding the 10-year-old boy were made public, the 12-year-old boy’s mother asked her son if he had been sexually assaulted by Bernard but the boy denied it.
However, later during a church service where the pastor announced to the congregation that Bernard was accused of sexual assault, the affidavit states that the 12-year-old suddenly stood up in front of the congregation and disclosed that he too had been assaulted by Bernard.
