Former Redding School Chair Sentenced in Child Sex Abuse Case

REDDING, CT — A former Redding school board chair was sentenced today for her role in the abuse of a child by a convicted sex offender, the News Times has reported.

Sara Sobel, 48, will spend the next eight years in prison for her part in the abuse of a young child by convicted sex offender and former Redding resident Stephen Overby when he lived with the Sobels.

Sobel pleaded guilty in August to risk of injury to a minor and promoting a minor in an obscene performance. She had been accused of repeatedly leaving the child with Overby and providing him with pornographic video and photographs of the child.

The Danbury Superior Court judge sentenced Sobel to 10 years for risk of injury to a minor and 20 years for promoting a minor in an obscene performance. Each sentence will be suspended after four years and served consecutively, for at least eight years in prison followed by probation.

In February, Overby pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault of a minor under the age of 13, risk of injury and possession of child pornography. In court documents, Overby was described as a close personal friend of Sobel. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Sobel resigned from the Region 9 Board of Education and from the town Democratic committee in September 2017.

For more, see the News Times.