George M. Leniart - Repeat Sex Offender

• Leniart is a registered sex offender who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1996.

• In 2002, he was convicted of risk of injury to a minor and violation of probation after police caught him in a wooded area of Preston with a 14-year-old girl.

• In 2004, he was charged with raping a teenage boy over a five-year period in the 1990s.

• State police have long suspected Leniart had something to do with the disappearance of 15-year-old April Dawn Pennington in May 1996 and have searched his property, unsuccessfully, for her remains.
  
  

A Montville man with a history of sex offenses against teens has been charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy who lived and worked with him over the summer.

George M. Leniart, 41, of 300 Massapeag Side Road is scheduled to appear in New London Superior Court today on charges of second-degree sexual assault, illegal sale of liquor to a minor and sale of a controlled substance. He is being held on a $250,000 bond.

The alleged victim told state police that Leniart provided him with marijuana, prescription medication and alcohol on a nightly basis.

Leniart is a registered sex offender who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1996.

In 2002, he was convicted of risk of injury to a minor and violation of probation after police caught him in a wooded area of Preston with a 14-year-old girl.

In 2004, he was charged with raping a teenage boy over a five-year period in the 1990s.

State police have long suspected Leniart had something to do with the disappearance of 15-year-old April Dawn Pennington in May 1996 and have searched his property, unsuccessfully, for her remains.

State police Detective Michael Hoagland investigated the newest case after the alleged victim, arrested last month on other charges, told Hoagland about several incidents that occurred over the summer when he and an 18-year-old friend lived at Leniart's house and worked construction with him. Details of the investigation are included in an arrest warrant affidavit in Leniart's court file.

Leniart, who is on a strict form of release called special parole, has been charged with violations several times in recent years and has been in and out of prison. A Department of Correction spokeswoman said Tuesday that Leniart was not in prison between July 5 and Sept. 25. The 17-year-old whom Leniart is accused of sexually assaulting was released from prison on July 10.

The 17-year-old said that Leniart started acting “freaky” one night after two police pulled into the Leniart's driveway. He said he and Leniart, who had been sitting in a car smoking marijuana, ran into the woods and hid until the police left. He said Leniart then drove to the Golden Hill Paugussett reservation in Colchester, where Leniart stored work materials in a trailer. He said Leniart took a brown box containing two assault rifles that he referred to as AK-47s and attempted to hand one to the teen with the comment, “Let's go kill some cops.” The teen said he told Leniart he wanted nothing to do with guns or killing anyone, and he wasn't going to prison for murder.

“After that night they went back to working everyday and partying like usual,” the warrant says.

Detectives searched several trailers at the Colchester reservation in early November and found no assault rifles.