A protective order has been issued against Morgan Frawley, 25, of Fairfield, who police said had sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy. Frawley, a former New Canaan church youth group leader and former substitute teacher, was arrested on a charge of risk of injury to a minor Oct. 25 after turning herself in to New Canaan police.
The only contact with the teen that Frawley is allowed is through her lawyer, Frank Bevilacqua, if it is deemed appropriate. Otherwise, she is to stay more than 100 yards away from him and make no contact in any form with him. Frawley has not attempted to make contact with the teen since being arrested, according to Mark Sherman, a Stamford-based lawyer representing the teen.Frawley appeared Tuesday in Norwalk Superior Court, and sat by herself in the court room dressed in khaki pants, grey flats and a blue pea coat.Sherman and Bevilacqua argued with the judge about allowing a news crew to film the arraignment in the courthouse.”If anyone wanted to be here, they could have been here,” Bevilacqua said, adding that the doors to the courtroom are open at 8:30 a.m. Sherman told the judge that the more information that is made available, the easier it could be to identify the 15-year-old.However, the judge overruled the appeals.The boy’s parents contacted officials at the Congregational Church of New Canaan in April after they found sexually explicit images and texts on their son’s cellphone, according to New Canaan Police Sgt.Carol Ogrinc.Former Congregational Church of New Canaan Senior Minister Harold “Skip” Masback reported the relationship to the state Department of Children and Families after he was notified by the boy’s parents, interim Senior Minister Anne Coffman said.DCF learned about the incident on April 23 and contacted New Canaan police that same day, regarding reports that Frawley was having an inappropriate sexual relationship with the 15-year-old male.Clergy members are required to report any allegations of child abuse to authorities.DCF found reason to turn the case over to police.In April, the church suspended Frawley, who was 24 at the time, from her role as a youth group leader after allegations of the sexual relationship were made, Coffman said.Frawley had been employed on a part-time basis for two years, Coffman said, and she was not a member of the church.There is no reason to believe there are other victims, both Ogrinc and Coffman said. Ogrinc also said there is no reason to believe any sexual conduct took place on church grounds or on youth group service trips.The youth group at the Congregational Church is something of an institution in New Canaan. More than 200 students between grades nine and 12 of various denominations participated in the group last year, with 148 of them attending a service project in Puerto Rico in February 2013. During the mission, members helped renovate and repair Hogar Posada la Victoria, a women’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility in the inland district of Toa Alta, on the outskirts of the urban sprawl of San Juan.The 148 kids were joined by 35 adults, who helped oversee the trip and provided logistical help, one of whom was Frawley.
