Bailed On Child Rape Charge, Man, 49, Again Charged With Sex Crime: PD

EAST HAVEN, CT — In November 2022, East Haven man Widman Vicuna-Rodriguez was charged with the rape and sexual assault of a child known to him beginning when the girl was seven and continued until she was 18, police have said.

Facing multiple felonies, that case is still pending in court. Vicuna-Rodriguez posted a $150,000 surety bond and was released from custody.

Police announced Friday that the now-49-year-old has been charged in connection with a 2023 sexual assault investigation, referred to East Haven police by the state Department of Children and Families. East Haven police Capt. Joseph M. Murgo said the newest probe referred to cops by the agency "came to light during an unrelated DCF investigation."

Murgo said Friday that in July 2023, Detective Monique Colbert, who led the investigation, was contacted by DCF. During that investigation, it was revealed that Vicuna-Rodriguez sexually assaulted a minor known to him in 2017 during a gathering at his East Haven home while the rest of the family was outside, Murgo said.

Colbert applied for and was ultimately granted a warrant for his arrest. He turned himself in to police Friday morning on fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child charges. He was held on a $75,000 bond and faced a judge in a New Haven courtroom shortly after.

In the 2022 rape case, Murgo said at the time that Vicuna-Rodriguez "created opportunities to be alone with the victim, which was when the abuse occurred." It's alleged that Vicuna-Rodriguez told the girl that should she tell, he'd "harm her, that he'd be jailed, and the family would be on the street," Murgo said at the time.

When East Haven police took the initial complaint from the now-young woman in late 2021, Colbert began investigating, working on the "complex case for more than a year."