State Police Arrest Bethlehem School Counselor for Sexual Assault of Special Needs Students

State Police Detectives Arrest Bethlehem Man Following Sexual Assault Investigation

Connecticut State Police Detectives from Western District Major Crime arrested a Bethlehem man following a lengthy sexual assault investigation.

On December 15, 2016 troopers from Troop L-Litchfield initiated an investigation into a sexual assault reported at the Arch Bridge School (ABS) at Wellspring in Bethlehem.  Two female juvenile students (age 15 and 16) reported that they had been sexually assaulted by an adult male Milieu Counselor in June of 2016. The ABS at Wellspring is a private special education school serving children in grades 1-12 with emotional, psychological and learning vulnerabilities.  The counselor had reportedly left the state at the time the complaint was made.

State Police detectives from Western District Major Crime responded to the scene and assumed the investigation.  State Police detectives worked collaboratively with the Connecticut Department of Children and Families. Through the course of the investigation, State Police detectives identified Michael Capozzi as a suspect and applied for, and were granted, an arrest warrant for Capozzi by the superior court.

On August 7, 2017 at approximately 8:00 a.m., Michael J. Capozzi, of 29 Sky Meadow Road, Bethlehem, CT., was taken into custody at Troop L.  Michael Capozzi was charged with Sexual Assault in the Second Degree, Sexual Assault in the Forth Degree, Promoting a Minor in an Obscene Performance, and Risk of Injury to a Minor.  Capozzi was held on $75,000 bond and transported to Bantam Superior Court for arraignment.

The arrest warrant was ordered sealed by the court.