A West Hartford lawyer has been charged a second time with having sex with a teenage girl and videotaping it, and he may face more allegations involving other girls, a state prosecutor says.
Kweku J. Hanson, 45, was arrested by Hartford police on charges of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor on March 1. He was held on $750,000 bond after being arraigned in Hartford Superior Court on Friday, March 2.
Police charged Hanson with having sex with a 15-year-old girl. When he was arrested Thursday, he was free on bonds totaling $100,000 on similar charges involving another 15-year-old girl, who is the first cousin of the other girl, authorities said.
Hanson, whose office is in Hartford, practices criminal and immigration law.
State prosecutor Thomas J. O’Brien said investigators are following leads on two other girls and more charges are possible.
The new charges stem from the police investigation of the original case, which resulted in Hanson’s arrest in September 2005. Police say they found numerous photos on Hanson’s computer of him having sex with girls and of girls in provocative poses.
Aaron Romano, a lawyer who represented Hanson on Friday, asked Judge Bradford Ward to release Hanson on a promise to appear in court. Ward cut Hanson’s initial bond from $1.5 million to $750,000.
Romano argued that the $1.5 million bond was “absolutely outrageously excessive” for a married father of two who has been a lawyer for 18 years. He said Hanson would not be able to continue preparing for the first case against him if he was jailed on bond.
Romano claimed that the first case involved “flimsy allegations at best” supported by a “reluctant” witness. O’Brien strongly denied the accusation.
The state’s chief disciplinary counsel tried to suspend Hanson’s law license last year, but Hanson successfully defended himself. He may face another disciplinary proceeding because of the new arrest.
