Conviction: Sexual Assault Case, Former Teacher Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

Dale Kukucka, photo courtesy of Glastonbury Police Department.

 From the Hartford Courant

              By David Owens

A former Bloomfield science teacher who was convicted in December of choking and sexually assaulting a woman in 2013 was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison and 15 years of probation.

Dale Kukucka, 37, of Andover, must also register as a sex offender for the rest of his life when he is released from prison.

Kukucka, who has been jailed since his arrest on Nov. 7, 2013, proclaimed his innocence during his sentencing hearing at Superior Court in Middletown.

"I still don't understand a lot of this," he said. "It hasn't been easy."

Kukucka said he was disappointed with the jury's verdict. He was convicted of first-degree strangulation and third-degree sexual assault, both felonies, and third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

"I placed a lot of faith in my lord and savior," Kukucka said, adding that he knows "God has a reason" for putting him through his ordeal. "I still maintain my innocence and I leave it all up to you God." he said.

Superior Court Judge David P. Gold was buying none of it.

Gold called Kukucka a narcissist and a coward and said he was struck by Kukucka's comment that "it hasn't been easy" for him.

"The fact that it wasn't easy for you was deserved," Gold said. It was not easy for the woman Kukucka was convicted of assaulting, who will likely relive the attack for years, Gold said.

Kukucka, a former teacher at Carmen Arace Intermediate School, was convicted of attacking the 23-year-old woman inside a women's restroom at the East Haddam Grange Hall on Oct. 19, 2013, during the Moodus Drum and Fife Corps Ancient Muster.

Kukucka placed one hand around the woman's throat and the other over her mouth and nose and choked her until she lost consciousness. Gold called the woman, who was in the courtroom, heroic for fighting off Kukucka long enough to put her elbow through a bathroom window.

Two people heard the commotion and went to her aid. When they went into the bathroom and turned on the lights, they saw Kukucka straddling the woman. Gold called the two people who went to the woman's aid, Erin McNamara and Patrick Murray, heroes too. Murray tried to hold Kukucka for police, but the taller and heavier Kukucka assaulted Murray and ran off.

Prosecutor Russell Zentner urged Gold to send Kukucka to prison for 16 years and to place him on probation for 25 years. Kukucka, Zentner said, "has no remorse for his actions.

Middlesex public defender James McKay asked for five years, arguing that Kukucka had lived an admirable life until his arrest. He argued that Kukucka's crimes followed a night of drinking.

Gold rejected the suggestion that the attack was an "alcohol-fueled, clumsy stumbling effort." Gold called Kukucka's acts "gratuitous violence."

"This young woman was choked to the point where she lost consciousness," the judge said.

"You have a violent streak, you cannot control your anger and the victims are young women who just happen to come across your path," Gold said, adding that Kukucka deserved a long sentence.

Kukucka has another case pending against him. Kukucka was charged with fourth-degree sexual assault Aug. 7, 2012, after he allegedly kissed an 18-year-old woman against her will and put his hands under her shirt. Kukucka received accelerated rehabilitation for the offense, but the special probation was revoked after his arrest on the East Haddam charges.

* For the previous article about this story:

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-drum-and-fife-assault-20151120-story.html

* For more news information  from the Hartford Courant, visit online at:

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/