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Joan Toribio

LITCHFIELD >> As Joan Toribio was handcuffed and led out of a courtroom at the Litchfield Judicial District courthouse Tuesday morning to begin a nine-month prison sentence for second-degree sexual assault, his family burst into tears.

Toribio’s sentencing is a final chapter in a case that drew national headlines after he and a football teammate were arrested for sexually assaulting two separate 13-year-old girls on the same February night earlier this year. After Toribio and his friend, Edgar Gonzalez, were arrested, fellow athletes and classmates took to social media to bully the victims, calling them “whores” and “snitches.”

The night before the sentencing, a porch light at the former Torrington High School football player’s home was off. Except for the blue glare of a television lighting the window sill, there were no signs of activity. Inside, Toribio clung to his final moments of freedom.

A woman who identified herself as Toribio’s sister pulled up to the family home, a modest apartment complex in Torrington on Highland Avenue, and an unassuming epicenter for a rape case that garnered national attention, drew comparisons to a similar one in Steubenville, Ohio, and forced school administrators to confront whether its school was doing something to foster a “culture of rape” and “male privilege.”

Lost in the fervor, friends and Toribio’s attorney said, is the identity of a 18-year-old rising football star, who they say will likely be remembered for a “juvenile” mistake.

On Tuesday, before a mostly empty courtroom at Litchfield Superior Court, Judge John Danaher handed down Toribio’s sentence: He’ll spend nine months in jail and serve 10 years of probation - but won’t have to register as a sex offender - after pleading guilty to second-degree sexual assault in the February rape of a 13-year-old girl. Nine months is the mandatory minimum for second-degree sexual assault.

Toribio’s teammate, Edgar Gonzalez, is already serving a six-year sentence for second-degree sexual assault and second-degree robbery. He was also required to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Toribio, who stood before the judge in a black sweatshirt and dark blue jeans, didn’t say much when addressing the court, but acknowledged his decision to engage in what prosecuting State’s Attorney Terri Sonnemann called a “consensual” sexual encounter with an underage girl was “wrong.”

Toribio’s Torrington-based attorney, Charles Brower, told the court his client was a “very nice kid” who did something “juvenile and immature.”

Danaher said he hopes Toribio can salvage his life after he’s released.

“You are the beneficiary of the victims whose parents aren’t out for blood,” he said. “Sometimes what people do goes beyond a mistake and becomes a crime, and that’s where you are today.”

Members of the 13-year-old victim’s family elected not to attend Tuesday’s sentencing, with Sonnemann speaking on their behalf. She condemned Toribio’s decision to have at least two sexual encounters with a girl he knew was underage.

The state’s age of consent is 16, falling outside the state’s Romeo and Juliet provision, which allows for sexual relationships if the participants aren’t more than three years apart, because of the five-year age gap between Toribio and the victim.

“I don’t think it was a rash [decision]; it was just a bad one,” Sonnemann said. “He’ll pay a steep price for it. This was a difficult situation, and this was the most palatable resolution. No one is 100 percent happy, but this is something everybody can live with.”

A local victim’s advocate said the state’s age of consent laws safeguard victims from being taken advantage of by much-older perpetrators.

“If a girl has a drink, it doesn’t mean she wants to be raped,” said Barbara Spiegel, executive director of Torrington’s Susan B. Anthony Project. “If a girl wears a short skirt, it doesn’t mean she wants to be raped. It means she wants to wear a short skirt.”

Toribio, who had been free on bond, sat quietly with his family before his case was called. His sister and other family members burst into tears when marshals led Toribio away in handcuffs. Afterward, his attorney, Brower, said Toribio never denied the sexual relationship.

“The facts are the facts, and he’s never tried to deny any of the facts,” Brower said. “He’s very stoic about this and very accepting about what occurred.”

The real Joan Toribio?

A former teammate who spoke to the Register Citizen didn’t see Toribio as a criminal.

“I don’t think of him as a criminal,” said Joel Beltre, 20, who went to school with Toribio, played on the same football team with him for two years and has lived next door to him for a half-decade.

Raised by a single mother the last eight years, Toribio developed a reputation as a talented football player at Torrington High School. He spent much of his life in the same apartment complex, on Highland Avenue, where he and friends played football in a small grass lot feet from his front door,

In his formative years, during those games, Toribio developed a knack for football. In high school, Beltre said, Toribio was an indispensable part of the team, playing multiple positions. Because of his athletic prowess, he was a popular figure on campus, but was quiet and “not much of a trouble-maker.”

It was that popularity which led some of Toribio’s classmates to stand up for him on a social media website. A Register Citizen report in March detailed cyber-bullying in which Torrington students took to Twitter to blast the victims, calling them “whores” and “snitches.”

Toribio is only one of four former Red Raiders charged with sexual assault stemming from the February incident at Toribio’s mother’s home.

Another victim, also 13, told police she was forced to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana, before being raped by Gonzalez, the school football team’s most valuable player. The girl suffered “internal injuries” from the attack, Sonnemann said.

Two other former football players, both juveniles, were also charged with second-degree sexual assault of one of the victims. Their names and the details of those cases have not been released due to the age of the suspects. Those alleged assaults did not occur on the same night as those involving Toribio and Gonzlez.

But it was Toribio and Gonzalez’s names that were splashed across newspapers and appeared on national websites, with TV crews setting up camp in the otherwise quaint town to chronicle every scintillating development.

The Torrington rape case, and similar ones across the country, was cited as evidence of a “rape culture” and prompted school officials to draft a new code of conduct criticized by a local chapter of the American Civil Liberties for severely restricting students’ freedom of speech.

Beltre said the rape case unraveled Toribio’s chances of getting a football scholarship.

“He pretty much ruined his future,” Beltre said. “He was on the road to getting recruited.”

Since he was released on bond, the 18-year-old Toribio maintained a low profile.

His Facebook page has been dormant for more than a year. His last status update, a picture of him carrying the ball in one of Torrington’s football games, was posted in October 2012, four months before he and Gonzalez were arrested and accused of sexual assault.

In Toribio’s mugshot, he stared back blankly at the camera. Few neighbors who lived in his complex identified him for anything other than his mugshot, recalling scant details about his life aside from what they read in newspaper accounts.

That’s a far cry from how Brower described his client, saying he is intelligent and interested in attending college after his release.

One woman, who lives next door to Toribio but declined to give her name, said Toribio’s criminal case weighed heavy on his conscience, transforming him from sociable into a shut-in, reticent to speak to anyone.

“It’s a miracle if I see him outside,” she said.

Brower said his client, who was suspended from school after charges were filed and later expelled, has been finishing required course work to get his high school diploma, which was awarded in August. Brower said his client has a “college-level GPA” and will apply to a nearby college. He believes the sexual assault was isolated and that Toribio won’t become a repeat offender.

“I’m 74 years old,” Brower said. “I’ve seen a lot of wiseguys, and he’s not one of them.”

‘A black eye’

Months later, as the school and city looks to move forward from the ugly episode, the head of the Board of Education is convinced the school’s culpability in the football rape case is limited.

Board Chairman Ken Traub said the rape case “wasn’t a black eye for the school” since it took place off campus, on a weekend, not during school hours.

“The school’s responsibility has to end at some point,” Traub said. “I don’t believe the schools had any responsibility or culpability in what happened.”

Internally, the school board made efforts to ensure students are better educated about rape, ramping up educational programs, changing policy and restructuring the football program. Torrington also now has an administrator assigned for every grade in secondary education, Traub said, a measure aimed at making administrators more aware of potential problems.

Dan Dunaj, the former football coach who allowed Gonzalez to play football while facing robbery charges, resigned, and he was replaced in June by Gaitan Rodriguez. For awhile, the board discussed cutting its athletic programs, including football, since it’s a “non-mandated” program, Traub said.

Traub characterized the rape charges as only a small part. Ultimately, that measure was taken off the table, with the board finding other ways to cut fat from the budget.

“Was it ultimately a deciding factor, no,” Traub said. “But was it a discussion point? Yes. The extracurriculars are the hook. That’s the reason they stay.”

Traub said the school has done its part to distance itself from a culture he said was unfairly attached to the football program following the arrests of at least seven former players on charges ranging from rape to harassment.

Gonzalez, 19, is serving six years for his role in the February rape. Another former football player, Devone Thomas, 17, will be in court on Friday on charges of first-degree sexual assault and harassment.

The mother of the alleged victim in that case told the Register Citizen her son was bullied before the alleged sexual assault.

Two other former players, Alec Berkemeier and Dyllan Rodriguez, who was also a member of the school’s track team, were arrested on rape charges in 2011. Rodriguez, and a fellow student and non-athlete, Kenuel Weaver-Hunte, both 17, pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor earlier this year and served four months in prison.

Berkemeier is awaiting trial and is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

“If it’s one person, bad decision,” Traub said. “Two, it’s, ‘Come on, guys.’ When it’s seven people, you do have to say there is a lack of understanding in right from wrong.”

Traub said the rape case won’t be forgotten. Over time, though, he hopes it’s not the first thing people associate with the city.

“No one wants to see this city remembered for this,” Traub said. “I don’t know if Torrington will ever have closure on it. This is a societal problem, not a school problem.”

Spiegel hopes the case forces Torrington to examine its conscience.

“I think there were some very painful lessons,” she said. “I’d be concerned about other victims coming forward because the victim experience was horrible. It could have a chilling effect on victims. I think next time there’s a similar case, a victim will say, ‘I’m not going to the police. I’m not reporting.’ This could really quiet down the next victim.”

Reach Isaac Avilucea at 860-489-3121 ext. 324.

https://www.registercitizen.com/news/article/Torrington-rape-case-Former-football-player-Joan-12027686.php