CT Community Theatre Director Sentenced to Prison for Assaults on Minors

There is news coming out of CT where a former community theatre director and designer has been sentenced eight and a half years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea to second-degree sexual assault.

Daniel Checovetes admitted to sexually abusing three minors ranging in ages from 14 to 17. All the victims worked on various theatre productions that Checovetes was involved with.

He opted for the plea agreements instead of taking his case to trial on the more serious charge of first-degree sexual assault and possibly drawing a much longer penalty. His desire to admit rather than challenge the claims was canvassed and accepted by Judge Brian Preleski on Tuesday. The defendant’s attorney, Patrick Tomasiewicz, also was present.

In addition to the prison sentence, Checovetes also must serve 20 years of probation as part of his plea. It is not known at this time about requiring him to register as a sex offender.

Checovetes admitted he abused the teens during a deposition for a lawsuit that the young women had filed against him and the theatres for negligence for not doing anything to prevent sexual abuse from happening nor having any policies to protect minors while on their premises.

The theatres are Naugatuck Teen Theater, the Landmark Community Theatre, the Warner Theatre, and the Thomaston Opera House. The theaters have denied the allegations.

In 2020, when learning of the allegations and law suit, I wrote a piece asking about policies to protect minors in community theatre in CT.

I said at the time, “Parents of these teenagers and children put their trust in the hands of the people running these theaters. If the theaters aren’t doing their work to protect them, disastrous consequences can occur, which is exactly what happened here. I think it’s awful what happened to these alleged victims and I hope they see justice served. But what angers me is that all of these could have been prevented if theaters were proactive in ensuring the safety in their spaces.”

I am glad justice is being served and I hope community theatres across the country have policies in place to protect all involved in their productions.