Vernon Cops Charge Man In Case Involving Texts To 13-Year-Old

VERNON, CT — A 41-year-old man is accused of trying to convince a 13-year-old from Vernon to have sex via a series of text messages, according to a warrant issued Friday.

Alexander Arzuaga Sr. has been charged with risk of injury to a child, according to a warrant. He was booked on a $25,000 bond, arraigned in Rockville Superior Court Friday and is due back on July 8, a clerk at the courthouse said. He made bail, a clerk said.

He knew the girl, according to a warrant.

The case dates back to April, when a woman said her 13-year-old daughter showed her several text messages from Arzuaga proposing a sexual encounter.

According to messages extracted by Vernon detectives and detailed in a warrant, he asked the girl, "Can I be your first?" The girl then responded, "first what," which was followed by Arzuaga saying, "Can I make you a woman?"

In the warrant, Arzuaga is quoted in another sequence of messages as texting, "OK, I can go to jail for this for a long time," while encouraging the girl to "keep this between us," and "delete these texts."

Arzuaga told detectives he was not referring to sex, according to a warrant. A state Department of Children and Families case worker told police the girl did not disclose any sexual encounters with him, according to a warrant.

Arzuaga is a convicted felon with prior Connecticut convictions for interfering with an officer, breach of peace, second-degree assault, the use of a motor vehicle without permission, the sale of controlled substances and reckless endangerment, according to a warrant.