Sharon men arrested again for sexual assault


SHARON - Donald E. Simmons Sr., 69, of Sharon Valley Road and his sons, Donald E. Simmons Jr., 49, now residing in Dover Plains, N.Y., and Robert Simmons, 48, of the same Sharon Valley Road address, were arrested Jan. 8 after surrendering themselves to state police at Troop L in Litchfield. The arrests were recorded at 6:55 a.m. The three men were released on bonds of $200,000 for Simmons Sr. and $100,000 each for his sons.

They were arraigned in Litchfield Judicial Court later that day. They pleaded not guilty.

Simmons Sr. is charged with first-degree sexual assault, fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. His sons are charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

The warrant was not released immediately following this week's arrest, so it is not publicly known who the victim is in this case.

The Simmonses pleaded not guilty in an arrest last summer; that case is still pending. It involved the alleged sexual abuse of a now-teenage girl - the daughter of Donald Simmons Jr. - by her father, uncle, grandfather and brother. The girl told police the men abused her for years, beginning when she was 11.

The police investigation has indicated that the girl and her older sister showed signs of having been abused. The Simmons family maintains the girl lied.

Beatrice Simmons told The Journal last summer that her granddaughter had threatened to get even after her father threw her boyfriend out of their house. The boyfriend had allegedly abused the girl, Simmons said.

An investigation resulted in arrests in July. Later that month, 19-year-old Donald E. Simmons III was arrested in the same case. He was taken to court from the Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire where he was serving a 4-year sentence for molesting a 5-year-old boy.

The four men are scheduled to be back in court Feb. 15 for a hearing on the first case. Donald Simmons Sr. and Robert Simmons are part-time employees of The Lakeville Journal.

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