Breaking News

Lasaga pleads guilty

With the federal trial set to commence in less than a week, former Saybrook Master Antonio Lasaga pleaded guilty to two charges of receiving and possessing child pornography. In return for his admission of guilt, the assistant U.S. Attorney Kari A. Dooley will drop the remaining five charges and recommend that Lasaga be sentenced to a jail term of approximately 11 to 14 years. Judge Alvin Thompson is not required to abide by the recommendations, and will hand down his decision in a sentencing hearing scheduled for May 8. At most, Thompson could sentence Lasaga to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

In the hearing in Federal Court in Hartford today, Lasaga admitted to possessing tens of thousands of images of children engaging in sexual acts with adults, animals, and other children. Lasaga also admitted to possessing two videocassettes of a young boy engaging in sexual acts. Both tapes were shot on the Yale campus, one in the professor's geology classroom and the other in the Saybrook master's house.

"Professor Lasaga's guilty plea spares all involved—witnesses, jurors and the court—the pain of an intense, unpleasant trial, which could only further damage the private and public lives of those most directly involved," Lasaga's attorney, William F. Dow III, said in a written statement after the plea was entered, as reported by The Yale Daily News, television news stations, and The New Haven Register. As he was leaving the hearing, Dow told reporters that "things happen in our youth that shape our behavior as adults." He declined to elaborate.

While the University has yet to take official action against Lasaga as a result of his admission of guilt, Thomas Conroy, the University's deputy director of public affairs, told reporters from the aforementioned sources that it was "distressing to Yale that such offenses have been committed by a member of the community." Nevertheless, he stressed that "his status is what it was before today. The University will be taking appropriate action at the appropriate time." Lasaga still has yet to face State charges of first-degree sexual assault and promotion of a minor to an obscene performance. The professor will remain in his home until the sentencing hearing.