[M]IDDLEBURY — A judge has denied a motion to release a 70-year-old man to home detention while awaiting sentencing for aggravated sexual assault.
Last month Rein Kolts, of Orwell, was found guilty on one count of repeated nonconsensual sex with a minor. He faces a sentence of 25 years to life and is being held at Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland.
Addison County Superior Court Judge Samuel Hoar said that although he believed conditions could be put in place to protect the public if Kolts were released, he felt the incentive for Kolts to flee was too great to grant bail. During pretrial hearings Kolts had been free on $50,000 bail and complied with the terms of his release.
Prosecuting attorney Dennis Wygmans was more blunt. “It is highly probable that he will die in prison,” he said at a hearing last week. Wygmans said that was as great an incentive to flee as any. “He has nothing to lose,” Wygmans added.
Kolts, who was a bus driver and basketball coach at Shoreham Elementary School, was charged in May 2014 after a 13-year-old girl from New Hampshire said he had sexually assaulted her. The victim told investigators she’d been raped on numerous occasions over a two-year period beginning in 2012.
According to the police affidavit, the victim said Kolts had sexually assaulted her at his home in Orwell more than five times. She said he first sexually assaulted her during the summer between fifth and sixth grades when she spent a week during summer vacation at his house.
According to the affidavit, Kolts initially denied any sexual contact with the girl but said their relationship was “very loving” and that they had an “emotional connection.” “He advised that he was very physical with (the girl) and he touched her a lot, but nothing sexual,” the affidavit states.
However, about 30 minutes into his interview with investigators, Kolts said he wanted to tell the truth and confessed to having had a sexual relationship with the victim, police said. “Kolts said that he knew having a sexual relationship with (her) was wrong and Kolts advised us repeatedly ‘I’m guilty, I’m a criminal and I deserve to go to jail.’”
Kolts’ wife, Karin Hall-Kolts, says he is innocent. Under cross-examination Wednesday she said she didn’t believe there were any rapes and that she disagreed with the outcome of the case.
She also said Kolts would never leave her and that there was no risk of him fleeing. Hall-Kolts said she loves her job and as a diabetic is dependent on medication covered by her workplace insurance. In addition, she said her husband would be incapable of fending for himself.
“Rein and I wouldn’t know how to go on the lam if our lives depended on it,” Hall-Kolts said. “We’re not that clever.”
Against the advice of his attorney and pleas from his wife not to speak, Kolts insisted on addressing the courtroom at the end of the hearing. In a rambling, sometimes incoherent statement, Kolts told the court he was tired and needed psychological relief. He disputed some of the evidence presented at trial and said the two confessions he’d made were false.
Even if they were true, he said, his story and the victim’s were at odds.
“There’s no corroboration whatsoever from her story to my story,” he told the court. “They don’t match. She said one thing, I said another.”
When Kolts tried to introduce evidence regarding stories about the victim’s father that had not been presented at trial, the judge swiftly silenced him. “You may not go where you’re going right now,” the judge said.
After apologizing to his wife and attorney, Kolts said, “I’m going to a place which is just pure hell. It’s pure hell and I shouldn’t be there.”
The judge has ordered a pre-sentencing investigation, which is mandated by statute and could take several months. The defense also plans to appeal the verdict on the grounds that the confessions should have been suppressed, among other factors.
“While we have a guilty verdict, this case is not over,” said defense attorney Mark Furlan. “Kolts sincerely hopes he will get some relief from this judgment on appeal.”
