East Haven Man Charged With Rape, Sexual Assault Of Children: PD

EAST HAVEN, CT — Almost a decade ago, according to police and court records, Herman A. Zúñiga, 57, of East Haven, began sexually assaulting children in his care, police said.

Zúñiga, of Dodge Avenue, was arrested Tuesday and charged with a rape dating back to 2015, and sexual assault charges including three of illegal sexual contact with a child, for alleged crimes beginning in 2012, according to the state judiciary and East Haven police.

According to East Haven Police Department Capt. Joseph M. Murgo, police received the initial complaint in April 2021 from several victims who alleged that Zúñiga "sexually assaulted them over a period of several years when he was tasked with looking after them."

In many of the encounters, Murgo said, it’s alleged that Zúñiga would "create opportunities to be alone with the victims, all minors, before sexually assaulting them at his residence or in his car."

During some of the incidents, which occurred once a week for a large period of time, Murgo said, it's alleged that Zúñiga would pay his victims money not to tell anyone.

Many of these alleged encounters were discovered during forensic interviews with Licensed Clinical Social Workers at the Yale Child Sexual Abuse Clinic, Murgo said.

Investigated by East Haven Police Department Detective John Fraenza, it was determined that Zúñiga "sexually assaulted three minors over the course of several years."

Zúñiga was arrested without incident at his East Haven home, taken to the East Haven Police Department where he was processed, and was initially held on a $250,000 court set bond and faced a judge Wednesday, Murgo said.

Zúñiga is charged with first-degree sexual assault, two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, and three counts of illegal sexual contact with a child. Court records show he was held on $150,000 bond and had not been released from custody, but as of noon Thursday, state corrections records do not show him as being held in jail.

Zúñiga was a community activist

The rape and sexual assault charges Zúñiga faces were alleged to have occurred during the period of time when he was a spokesperson for the Latino community in East Haven.

In 2012, he helped found and ran the grassroots organization Comunidad de Inmigrantes de East Haven, or Immigrant Community of East Haven, to "reach out and work with other groups and leaders in town, in hopes of unifying and bringing together all residents of East Haven."

In 2015, as president of the group, Zúñiga testified before the state legislature in favor of House Bill 7039, a proposed law to prohibit local police enforcement of civil immigration detainers. He testified that he "felt police abuse and brutality first hand."

The bill he testified in favor of was related to the 2014 U.S. Department of Justice civil rights case against East Haven police following the conviction of East Haven police officers Dennis Spaulding, David Cari, John Miller and Jason Zullo for "conspiring to violate the civil rights of members of the East Haven community."

At trial, federal prosecutors successfully argued and presented evidence that the officers and others in the department "maintained and perpetuated an environment where the use of unreasonable force and unreasonable searches and seizures was tolerated and encouraged," and included "unlawful arrests and searches, including the baseless arrests of a Catholic priest and several Latinos who lived or worked in the community."

Zúñiga immigrated to the U.S. in 1991 from Ecuador and became a restaurant worker, and later, it was reported, a handyman. Though the advocacy group he helped to found no longer exists, he told the Yale Daily News last year that he was still involved in community activism in support of the Latinx community.