Connecticut Man Gets 29 Years In Prison In Sex Dungeon Case

ELLINGTON, CT — A former Ellington man accused of operating what law enforcement officials called a sex dungeon out of a Vernon office and Manchester hotel was sentenced to nearly 29 years in prison on federal charges, a leading prosecutor said Thursday. The man faces the possibility of more time in prison on state charges, officials said.

Simon Hessler, 48, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 347 months in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release for child exploitation offenses, according to Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham.

Hessler lived in Ellington at the time of his crimes, records show.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in October 2018, a Connecticut State Police detective identified Hessler as a person possibly involved in the sex trafficking of minors.

Case records show that Hessler began communicating with the detective, who was acting in an undercover capacity, and told the detective he maintained a sex dungeon on the top floor of his office building that was full of sex-related devices, including a cage, stocks, handcuffs, whips and other implements.

Hessler offered to pay the detective $500 for two days of "slave training" and "limitless sex" with a 12-year-old "DCF child," case records show.

Once the detective agreed to the sale, Hessler required the child be left in a trailer near a hotel he operated in Manchester — the Baymont Inn & Suites — and told the detective to send him a picture of the child gagged, blindfolded and handcuffed before he would reveal the location of the cash payment, according to case records.

After the detective sent Hessler a photo of an image that appeared to be a child bound on the floor of a trailer, Hessler revealed the location of the money, Durham said.

On Nov. 13, 2018, Hessler was arrested after he exited his car and began walking toward the trailer. Investigators accessed a USB drive that had been inside a safe in Hessler’s hospitality office in Vernon on Route 83 at 615 Talcottville Road.

The USB drive contained thousands of photos and videos of child pornography, including approximately 60 images of a girl who was younger than 12, according to Durham.

The investigation revealed that, between July 2016 and November 2018, Hessler sexually abused the girl, and he used a used a phone to take images of the abuse, Durham said.

Hessler has been detained in state custody since his arrest. On Dec. 11, 2019, he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of production of child pornography.

Hessler also was charged with related offenses in the Hartford Judicial District and Tolland Judicial District. On Dec. 17, 2019, he pleaded guilty to several of those offenses, including two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, two counts of risk of injury to a child, and multiple counts related to his attempt to commit commercial sex abuse of a minor under the age of 13, unlawful restraint and attempt to commit intentional cruelty, prosecutors said.

Thursday’s sentencing is part of "a global resolution of all federal and state charges," Durham said.

Hessler is expected to be sentenced to 30 years of incarceration for the state offenses, and Judge Underhill ordered Hessler’s federal sentence to run concurrently with his state sentence.

Durham said the prosecution has been part of the U.S. Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.