A Seymour man accused last year of keeping his sister locked in a noxious bedroom stained with urine and feces took a plea deal Tuesday (April 28) that will see him sentenced to between five and 10 years in prison.
Arthur Gauvin, 59, pleaded guilty to first-degree abuse of a disabled person and cruelty to persons before Judge Frank Iannotti at Superior Court in Milford.
Gauvin was arrested a year ago after Seymour police received an anonymous complaint asking them to check on Gauvin’s sister.
According to police reports in the case, neighbors had suspected something untoward was going on in the Gauvin house at 10 Eleanor Road for years.
Cops were sent there in 2012, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
In court Tuesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Cornelius Kelly told the judge that when cops arrived at the house the night of April 24, 2014, they were greeted by Gauvin’s daughter, who said her aunt was ​“resting.”
Police told Gauvin’s daughter they’d get a warrant to search the home if they had to. Gauvin’s daughter then led them to the home’s kitchen, where they were met by Gauvin.
They were met by something else, too, Kelly said — a ​“foul odor” permeating the home.
When cops made Gauvin lead them to his sister — who Kelly said was being kept in a room locked from the outside — they found the source of the smell.
Inside the room they found Gauvin’s sister, who Kelly said appeared ​“extremely thin” and malnourished.
“They described her as covered in filth, with feces and urine lying on the bed and in the room,” Kelly said.
The prosecutor said the woman had difficulty answering questions from police.
“When questions were asked, it appeared as if the individual would look at the defendant as if she wanted and needed permission to answer questions,” Kelly said.
In addition to the filth, the room’s only window was boarded up.
“He was asked why he locks this person in the room and he stated that he did not want the dog to eat her food,” Kelly said.
The woman was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, Kelly said, where she was diagnosed with dehydration and diabetes.
Kelly said the woman had also suffered for years from dementia.
She is doing better, Kelly said.
“She is doing well now,” he said. ​“She seems to have put this matter behind her.”
The woman’s specific whereabouts have not been released to the public.
Gauvin has recently been staying in a halfway house in Hartford, according to his lawyer, Daniel Ford, because he is barred from returning to the home and had nowhere else to live.
Court officials are also monitoring his whereabouts via GPS.
He has posted $105,000 bond in the case.
According to the plea deal, the judge will sentence Gauvin to 15 years behind bars, but it will be suspended after Gauvin serves somewhere between five and 10 years.
Judge Iannotti continued the case to July 9 so probation officials can prepared a pre-sentence report on Gauvin.
Gauvin and Ford declined to comment on the case while leaving the courthouse Tuesday.
