Matthew Glasser - Noncompliant Sex Offender

Sarah Tofte of the Human Rights Watch says 25% of all sex offenders
re-offend within 15 years

This defendant has continued to indicate that he has done nothing wrong

Former Northwest Catholic High School music teacher Matthew Glasser, who was placed on the state sex offender registry after pleading guilty to having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student, has been charged with violating conditions of his probation.

Glasser, 32, failed to find a place to live that was an adequate distance from schools and parks where minors frequent, according to the arrest warrant affidavit filed by his probation officer. He also continued to maintain his Internet and e-mail accounts, including a MySpace account, although the court prohibited him from having online access, the affidavit said.

He was ordered Tuesday to be in court March 7 for a hearing on the violation of probation charge.

Glasser, of Ann Street in Tolland, had received a seven-year suspended prison term, plus five years of probation, at his sentencing on Oct. 17, 2007. He had pleaded guilty earlier in the year to five counts of fourth-degree sexual assault and one count of tampering with a witness. He was fired from his job in 2005.

His probation officer, Lisa Manderville-McGeough, said Glasser consistently failed to comply with the conditions of his probation, according to the 17-page arrest affidavit.

Among the other conditions were that he not have any unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16, that he register as a sex offender under Megan's Law and that he complete a sex-offender evaluation and treatment.

Glasser's relationship with his probation officer has been contentious since their first meeting, two days after his sentencing. They repeatedly clashed over issues such housing, employment and the use of the Internet.

During that first meeting, according to the affidavit, Glasser said, "My family has taken the legislative stance that I did not commit the offense that I was arrested for and I did nothing illegal."

In that meeting, Glasser admitted giving voice lessons to a 13-year-old girl. He told the teenager's family that "he did not commit his offense and that they believed him and want him to continue to teach his daughter," the arrest warrant said.

Manderville-McGeough asked her supervisor to meet with Glasser about the conditions of his probation. When she met with Glasser again, according to the affidavit, he asked, "If I become your pal, would I get privileges?"

Later, the warrant says, he told Manderville-McGeough that he did not understand the conditions of his probation because he has a "learning disability."

According to state law, registered sex offenders must get approval from their probation officers before they move into neighborhoods where minor children live. The state probation office has denied Glasser's requests to live at addresses in Hartford, South Windsor, Tolland, Vernon, Manchester, Wethersfield and Plainville, because minors live on those streets or schools are located nearby.

When Manderville-McGeough suggested that Glasser move to a Hartford homeless shelter, Glasser did so for one night, then moved back into his family's home in South Windsor. He later moved to his current address in Tolland, after the homeowner told another court official that there were very few minors living in the neighborhood, which the probation officer said was later proven to be false.

At his arraignment Tuesday before Superior Court Judge David Gold, Glasser's lawyer, John Kelly, said his client moved back to his parents' house in South Windsor from the shelter because he had been approached by drug dealers.

"I don't think it is reasonable for probation to ask him to live in a homeless shelter," Kelly said.

Prosecutor Sandra Tullius said Glasser has continued to flout the orders of this court.

When he was arrested on Tuesday, Glasser told authorities he was still living on Ann Street in Tolland, a residence that is prohibited by the conditions of his probation because 14 minors live in the neighborhood.

"He wants to live where he wants to live. This defendant has continued to indicate that he has done nothing wrong," Tullius said.

Glasser's original charges stem from a relationship he had with a female student, who is not being identified by The Courant because of her age and the nature of their relationship. In court papers, the victim described a relationship that advanced from friendship to Internet chats and late-night cellphone calls, to a sexual relationship.

For several weeks in April and May 2005, the warrant says, Glasser urged the girl to sneak out of her family's home in Bloomfield in the middle of the night. In April 2005, Glasser started taking the teenager to his apartment to watch movies, and they later started exchanging more explicit e-mails, cellphone calls and instant messages, the warrant says.

Their relationship came to light when the girl reported that she might be pregnant.

Gold set Glasser's bail at $75,000 and ordered him to follow the instructions of his probation officer in the meantime.