East Windsor Teen's Bail Reduced after Accuser's Arrest on Federal Charges

By David Owens
Hartford Courant
July 30, 2013

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-bass-gotta-priest-guns-0730-20130730,0,2476414.story

An East Windsor teen who has been jailed since his arrest June 7 on charges that he manufactured bombs and planned a prank at his high school, had his bail reduced Monday in Superior Court in Hartford.

Bail for Kyle Bass had been $750,000, but Judge Joan K. Alexander reduced it to $350,000 after arguments by Bass' lawyer, Jeremy Weingast, and comments by prosecutor Robin Krawczyk. The judge also gave Bass a 10 percent option for bail, meaning his parents could post $35,000 with the court clerk to have him released.

Bass was arrested after an East Windsor priest contacted police about weapons and explosives Bass possessed. The Rev. Paul Gotta also told police and federal authorities that Bass made troubling comments.

Monday, Krawczyk said Gotta's credibility is now in question because of the priest's arrest on federal firearms charges. Since most of the allegations against Bass were from Gotta, the state's case has been weakened, she said.

The initial allegations portrayed Bass as a troubled young man planning violence, but that does not seem to be the case now, Krawczyk said.

Gotta was arrested by federal authorities July 19 on federal firearms charges. The Hartford Archdiocese relieved him of his duties as administrator of St. Philip and St. Catherine churches in East Windsor days earlier after the state Department of Children and Families received a report that Gotta sexually abused a minor.

The federal arrest affidavits remain sealed because the federal investigation is continuing. Gotta is free after posting $500,000 bail, and is confined to his sister's Bridgeport home.

"The [federal] authorities do not find a lot of what the priest has presented as credible," Krawczyk told the judge. Conversely, Bass has cooperated with investigators and authorities find him credible, she said.

Krawczyk said it would be appropriate to reduce Bass' bail. Weingast asked for $250,000, but Alexander said she remained troubled by the materials police found when they searched Bass' home. She also questioned how Bass' parents could have allowed their son to collect the items.

If Bass does post bail, he will be under house arrest and his parents' home can be searched at any time to ensure he does not again accumulate the items that contributed to his initial arrest, such as explosives, chemicals and firearms.