Granby Man Sentenced to Five Years for Sexual Assault

A Superior Court judge has sentenced a Granby man to five years in jail, suspended after just one year served, for his role in the sexual assault of a 3-year-old girl in 2010.

Enfield Superior Court Judge Howard Scheinblum accepted the , sentencing Brian Scott Toth, 38, for inappropriately touching the victim in May 2010. Toth pleaded guilty to one count of fourth-degree sexual assault under the Alfred Doctrine in December 2011.

“Sexual abuse of a minor is one of the most heinous crimes,” said Scheinblum, raising his voice as he rejected Toth’s attorney’s plea for limiting the prison sentence to time served. “Mr. Toth, you have gotten all the consideration you deserve. Probably too much consideration by virtue of the state’s offer and I’m going to adopt the recommendation.”

Under the Alford Doctrine, Toth does not admit guilt, but recognizes that there was enough evidence for a conviction if the case went to trial.

As part of his sentence, Toth will also serve 10 years on probation once he is released from prison. He will also have to register as a sex offender for a 10-year period and is required to follow the conditions of a 10-year restraining order that prohibits contact with the victim or her family, as well as following the recommendations of a court-appointed doctor.

Toth has already served six months of his sentence after he was arrested a second time in July 2010, and charged with four counts of violating a protective order for having contact on four separate occasions with the victim’s mother, with whom Toth was living and to whom he was engaged prior to his first arrest.

The victim's mother had obtained a protective order that prohibited Toth from having contact with her or the victim, according to court documents. Toth subsequently attempted to communicate with the victim's mother via text messages three times and by sending her a card, court documents said.

Charges for violating the protective order, as well as a charge of risk of injury of a minor from the underlying incident, were dropped as part of the agreement.

Senior assistant state’s attorney Debra Collins said that several factors, including the victim’s young age, the severity of the sexual assault and the extended term of the probation - state law calls for no more than five years, but the parties stipulated to double the length - led to the plea deal.

“This is at the lower end of the sexual assault scale,” Collins said. “I am grateful that the victim was not subjected to anything more than that.”

The victim’s parents, who had the right to argue the sentence at the hearing, called for a harsher penalty.

The victim’s mother said that she had “a relationship with a monster.” The victim’s father said that Toth not only violated his daughter physically, but he also violated her trust. The names of the victim and her parents have been withheld to protect the victim.

“It makes me sick to know that Mr. Toth will live his life with a slap on the hand,” she said, adding that she had to get rid of furniture that was associated with the assault and that her daughter was still undergoing counseling. “She will be scarred for the rest of her life and will be undergoing counseling for [a long time]…I wish [Toth] could be sent to jail forever.”

“I wonder what other ill effects she will develop as a result of this traumatic experience,” the father said.

Toth's attorney, Patrick Tomasiewicz, told the judge that Toth had remained gainfully employed during the time that he had been released and that his mother had suffered a stroke since the incident.

When given the opportunity to speak, Toth said he was “sorry” what had happened, an apology that Scheinblum rejected.

“I accept your apology with a total grain of salt,” Scheinblum said. “You were under a court order not to have contact with the mother and you flagrantly violated the court order.”