MIDDLETOWN — A baby sitter who was accused of sexually assaulting two 14-year-old boys pleaded guilty on Friday to reduced charges under a plea deal arranged with state prosecutors, her attorney said.
Loni Bouchard pleaded guilty to three counts of reckless endangerment, a misdemeanor, the court clerk’s office said. She previously pleaded not guilty to four counts of second-degree sexual assault, five counts of risk of injury to a minor and illegal purchase of alcohol by a minor in four separate cases.
Bouchard, 21, is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20. The recommended sentence is a three-year prison term, suspended after one year, plus two years of probation, said Bouchard’s attorney Jack O’Donnell.
O’Donnell said he plans to argue for a lesser sentence with no jail time.
Bouchard was 19 when she began a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy she was hired to baby-sit, according to arrest warrants. The mother of the 14-year-old boy told police that she hired Bouchard, who seemed like a responsible and capable adult, in December 2010 to baby-sit her children at her home in Southington, the arrest warrants stated.
In April, the mother learned that Bouchard and her 14-year-old son were in a sexual relationship after reading messages exchanged between the two on Facebook, the warrants stated. She confronted the boy, who told her that he had been in a relationship with Bouchard since January and that they had sex at Bouchard’s home in Clinton.
In a journal seized by police, Bouchard said she was in love with the teen and didn’t think the law should tell her who to date, the warrants stated.
She also admitted to having been involved previously with another underage boy, also from Southington, the warrants said. Bouchard was arrested by Clinton police in July 2011. Charges were brought by Southington police a month later.
Last summer, Bouchard applied for pretrial psychiatric treatment, which would have allowed her to avoid conviction if she successfully completed the program. That application was withdrawn before the plea agreement, O’Donnell said.
Her mother, Kimmy Bouchard, pleaded guilty in October 2012 to risk of injury to a minor for providing the 14-year-old Clinton boy with alcohol and marijuana. She was sentenced to probation in February, according to court documents.