The 29-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a woman on a running and bike trail in Avon last week was also accused of sexually assaulting a child in Massachusetts in 2013, but was never charged.
Luis Ortiz-Morales was arrested in Chicopee, Massachusetts, on Monday after showing up at the police station to ask why officers were at his house, according to police.
Court records released on Wednesday said police in Holyoke, Massachusetts, investigated Ortiz-Morales in 2013 when a 4-year-old girl said he inappropriately touched her.
The girl's mother told police she found her daughter in the little girl's bedroom with her pants down and Ortiz was pulling up his pants. However, police never arrested him because the child's statements were not specific and they did not have any additional evidence, court documents state.
In the Avon case, police said DNA and a victim who was aware of her surroundings before her attack are two of the reasons that they were able to identify the suspect in this case.
Avon police traveled to Chicopee and brought Ortiz-Morales back to Connecticut on Tuesday to answer to first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault charges.
He's accused of grabbing a woman, dragging her off the Rails to Trails path – also known as the Farmington Canal Trail – hitting her in the head and face and sexually assaulting her the afternoon of Thursday, June 25 near Scoville Road in Avon.
That's not far from Pine Grove Elementary School, which is located on that road. The community also uses the trail for its annual Avon Road Race, which starts at the school.
During Avon Police Department's Investigation, witnesses and the victim provided police with information about a man seen the in area and a portable toilet pump truck where the woman was attacked.
It turns out Ortiz-Morales drives one of those trucks and was pulled over after driving one for United Sites Services, a portable toilet company.
Ortiz-Morales was working on the trail for the company the day of the attack, according to Avon Town Manager Brandon Robertson and his work assignments were to have taken him from Avon to Farmington.
The company responded to the allegations against with the following statement Monday night and a representative for United Sites Services said Ortiz-Morales' "termination from the company is in process."
"First and foremost, our thoughts are with the victim of this violent crime. Like the rest of the community, we are appalled by this reprehensible act and we have been actively assisting local authorities with their investigation and will continue to assist them in any way we can," the company's statement says.
Ortiz has a criminal record that includes drug possession charges in 2005 and motor vehicle charges in 2010.
He is due back in court on Aug. 3.
