Child Contact—

Local Man Faces

Ten Sex Felony Charges

By Andrew Gorosko

A Newtown man was being held this week at Bridgeport Correctional Center on $1 million bail on ten pending felony charges involving alleged illicit sexual contact with children.

David F. Csanadi, 34, of 10½ Aunt Park Lane was arraigned on the charges in Danbury Superior Court on April 18. Csanadi did not enter pleas to the ten felonies.

Csanadi’s next court appearance, at which he is slated to enter pleas, is scheduled for May 2.

At about 6:26 pm on April 15, five Newtown police arrested Csanadi on a warrant at his home, lodging three counts of first-degree sexual assault, three counts of risk of injury or impairing the morals of children, three counts of illegal sexual contact with a child, and one count of third-degree possession of child pornography.

Aunt Park Lane is a side street that links Hattertown Road to Hundred Acres Road.

After his arrest, Newtown police held Csanadi on $1 million bail at the police station for his April 18 arraignment.

In a statement police said, “Danbury Superior Court issued the warrant after an investigation by the Newtown detective division. The investigation is continuing.”

Asked to comment on the Csanadi case, Police Chief Michael Kehoe said, “We’re going to be very tight-lipped about this investigation.”

Chief Kehoe said that Newtown police were tipped off by Monroe police in early April that Csanadi was in possession of child pornography, so Newtown police investigated the matter.

The police chief said that Newtown police participate in the Internet Crimes Against Children investigatory project, which provides resources for such types of investigations. Detective Jason Frank is the detective unit’s specialist in such cases, having received investigatory training for such probes, Chief Kehoe said.

Chief Kehoe declined to comment on whether any child or children were physically injured due to the alleged actions of Csanadi. The victim or victims of Csanadi’s alleged crimes did not contact police about the matter, Chief Kehoe said.

Newtown police obtained a search-and-seizure warrant for Csanadi’s residence and executed it there on April 8, the police chief said.

“It was a tip from [Monroe police] that gave us enough information to obtain a search-and-seizure warrant,” he said.

Through evidence collected at Csanadi’s home on April 8, police developed criminal charges against him and sought the arrest warrant which they served against him on April 15, the chief said.

Both the search-and-seizure warrant and the arrest warrant were sealed by the judge and not open for public review, court officials said.

“This is an active, ongoing investigation…. You can imagine the sensitivity of this information,” Chief Kehoe said.

“We got [the investigation] to a point where we knew we needed to make an arrest now, but the investigation is ongoing,” he said. “We felt we needed to safeguard society,” he said. “These are significant charges…. This is a complex case,” he said.

“We’re only in the preliminary parts of the investigation,” he added.

Csanadi, who is a lifelong resident of town, has two prior convictions stemming from arrests made by Newtown police, Chief Kehoe said. They are a 1998 conviction on first-degree criminal mischief, which is serious vandalism, and also a 2001 conviction for violation of probation, the police chief said.