Courtesy of Cheshire Police Department
Editor’s Note: This story contains references to sexual assault.
New details about the criminal case of Mark Lacy, a Yale Hospitality general manager who until this month ran the Pierson College dining hall, have been revealed in his court file at the New Haven Superior Court Clerk’s Office — including a case report that says Lacy threatened his wife with a gun and knife, which was previously not detailed in the initial police press release.
The Cheshire Police Department arrested 32-year-old Lacy at his Wallingford Road home in Cheshire on Feb.1. Lacy was charged with aggravated sexual assault in the first degree, strangulation in the second degree, threatening in the first degree, risk of injury to child, unlawful restraint in the first degree and assault in the third degree. On Feb. 19, he pled not guilty to the charges at the New Haven Superior Court.
After Lacy submitted his not guilty plea, his attorney Jack O’Donnell requested the judge to reconsider his client’s “excessively high bond” — Lacy’s bond is currently set for $1 million. Judge Clifford and O’Donnell, agreed on a next court appearance on March 6. O’Donnell told the News on Tuesday that he will be arguing for a reduced bond on March 6. He declined to talk further about the case until after the next hearing.
According to a case report filed on Feb. 1 at 9:29 a.m., Cheshire Police Officer Gretchen Ovesny met with the complainant — whose name was redacted in officials reports — and her five-year old daughter. The complainant stated that Lacy — her husband — assaulted her in their home on Wallingford Road in Cheshire.
The complainant said that she was forced to engage in sexual intercourse with Lacy that morning, according to the case report. She was on her way to work after dropping off her son at school but received a call from Lacy, who told her that one of their children was sick and that his wife needed to come home. When arriving home, Lacy told her that the child was in their bedroom, but when she went up to check, the child was not there, according to the report.
The complainant stated that Lacy then entered the bedroom with her and “refused to let her leave.” She said that Lacy had a gun and a kitchen knife, and began to assault her.
Lacy threatened this wife with a “black automatic handgun” and a “black handled silver bladed kitchen knife,” according to a supplemental narrative from the complainant written by Detective Dennis Boucher and included in the case file. The narrative writes that Lacy held the weapons “during certain points of the incident.” The report writes that Lacy’s wife tried to escape during the alleged assault, but was punched in the head several times.
“[The complainant] had red marks on her neck and collarbone area, where she said Mark had held her. I also observed [the complainant’s] right wrist which was swollen and had red marks around it, consistent with being restrained,” Ovesny wrote in her case report.
According to the case report, Lacy had placed cut-open green garbage bags on the bed where he allegedly raped the complainant.
The complainant stated that after the assault she quickly got dressed. She went to one of her children’s rooms on the second floor and found one of her children “in her bed, under the covers.” The wife and her child left home and drove directly to the Cheshire Police.
Lacy’s arrest report indicates that he was transported to the Cheshire Police headquarters and arrested at 11:53 a.m. on Feb. 1.
At 12:30 p.m. that same day, the complainant was brought to the Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Room for evaluation, where the doctors were informed of the incident, and the complainant completed a sexual assault evidence kit.
The court file showed that a protective order — a civil order from a judge that restricts contact with the accuser — was granted to Lacy’s wife in Meriden, Connecticut on Feb. 4. At his court appearance on Feb. 19, Lacy verbally confirmed his awareness of this “protective order” — a civil order from a judge that restricts contact with the an alleged victim of domestic violence — against him and promised to comply with it.
Originally, Lacy was held on a $500,000 bond, and his case was filed in Meriden Superior Court. But on Feb. 4, Lacy’s bond was raised to $1,000,000, and his case was moved to the New Haven Superior Court instead.
A spokesperson from the New Haven Clerk’s Office told the News that an increase in bond is an independent decision made by a judge. He said that they could not comment on case specifics or provide legal analysis.
According to the Connecticut Judicial Branch website, Lacy is still in custody. As of Feb. 19, Lacy was no longer listed on the Yale Hospitality website and has been replaced by Kory Evasick as the general manager of Pierson dining hall.
Sammy Westfall | sammy.westfall@yale.edu