Accused kidnapper charged with sexual assault

Teen was found in storage room in man's home after missing for a year

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updated 3:18 p.m. ET July 3, 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. - Bloomfield police have charged a West Hartford man with 11 counts of sexual assault in the disappearance of a missing Bloomfield teenager found locked in a storage room in his home, police said Tuesday.

Adam Gault, 41, who is being held on a $1 million bond, was also charged with 11 counts of risk of injury to a minor. The charges were in addition to several charges he also faced in the case.

Gault was in court Tuesday to plead not guilty to the charges he already faced — second-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree custodial interference, interfering with a police officer, risk of injury to a minor and three counts of second-degree forgery.

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He is due back in court July 10 on those charges and was expected to appear in court later Tuesday to face the new charges.

The girl, who had been missing for a year, was found June 6 when police officers, fearing she was dead, searched Gault's home. An officer pushed aside a dresser blocking a door and found the girl, now 15, locked in the tiny room.

Police arrested Gault and two women who lived with him, Ann Murphy, 40, and Kimberly Cray, 26. The women pleaded not guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint, conspiracy to commit risk of injury to a minor and interfering with police and are due back in court Aug. 1.

Journal notes pertinent?
Police said the girl ran away from home in June 2006 and moved in with Gault, who worked with her stepfather years ago. Police are now investigating whether he had inappropriate relationships with her and other girls across the country.

Authorities said new charges on Tuesday stem from incidents that occurred before the girl disappeared.

The girl wrote in her journal that she was having a sexual relationship with Gault, according to a search warrant application signed by Bloomfield and West Hartford police on June 6. She told a friend Gault was her boyfriend.

Gault's lawyer Gerald Klein has said his client "absolutely denies" that there was a sexual relationship. He said Gault told him that the girl's mother mistakenly concluded from the diaries that her daughter had sex with him.

Safe haven?
In June 2006, Gault and the girl filed a police report alleging that she had been sexually abused by a family friend. But police said there was no evidence to support the charges, and they have cleared her family of any suspicion of abuse.

The girl also told Bloomfield police that she did not feel safe in her home and asked to be placed with Gault, the warrant said.

Michael Georgetti, Cray's attorney, has said the three were providing a safe haven for the girl.

Murphy is being held on $750,000 bond and Cray is being held on $500,000 bond.

The Associated Press is not identifying the girl or her parents to protect her identity, because of the alleged sexual assaults.