Judicial Marshal Michael Connelly, who has been charged with promoting prostitution, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday and his case is being moved to Litchfield.
A judicial marshal in Waterbury and brother of the late Waterbury State's Attorney John Connelly pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday to a charge of promoting prostitution and fought back against a decision to move his case out of the city.
Judicial Marshal Michael Connelly worked in the Waterbury courthouse for 30 years. According to paperwork released in court Wednesday, Connelly was heavily involved with prostitutes on a near-daily basis.
Although he has not been charged with such allegations, court officials claim Connelly would drive to an area in Waterbury frequented by prostitutes, show them a badge of some sort and threaten to arrest them if they did not perform oral sex on him.
One witness who said she recognized Connelly as a former client from when she was incarcerated in Waterbury told the courtroom she would charge Connelly between $80 and $100 for sex.
Employees of the apartment complex on Sharon Road where Connelly lives said at least one prostitute has stayed with him.
Cars other than Connelly's would pick her up from time to time, and during one such instance, a maintenance worker spotted the prostitute having sex with another man in the car, according to the paperwork. Afterward, she walked back to Connelly's apartment and the man drove off.
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His defense attorney, Lenny Crone, said Connelly was arrested while dropping off his now-ex-girlfriend in Waterbury last month and claimed Connelly didn't profit at all from any of the woman's activities.
He called the change of venue "ridiculous," adding that it's not fair to him or his client that the case will now be "an away game." Crone also said police confiscated his client's blood pressure and heart medications during the arrest.
Crone said he has seen no evidence to support the current charge against his client and that the case has only made it into the public arena because of Connelly's last name and his brother's stature in Waterbury.
"Anytime you're associated with or related to a well-known person, you get the benefits of that relationship, and you also get what won't be the benefits, the negative parts of that, and I think that's what's happening with Mike," Crone said.
But it's not Connelly's only run-in with the law. He was also recently accused of shoplifting at a local Stop and Shop. A warrant for his arrest on 16 counts of sixth-degree larceny was waiting for him at the courthouse.
Connelly's 18-year clean service record was tainted in 2001 when investigators found he had looked at pornography on a Waterbury judge's computer. He was fired after the investigation.
A judge later heard the details of the case during arbitration and reinstated Connelly’s employment. In his ruling, the judge wrote that even though there was no doubt that Connelly had used judicial property for personal use to view content like sports and gambling information, the conduct was not illegal, and there was no reason for Connelly to assume that he would have been fired for such conduct.
In other instances, Connelly was investigated for making lewd gestures in an open courtroom and for displaying a picture of a naked woman on his cell phone.
