Police

DA: Man sexually abused ‘helpless’ women over 5 years

Curran Lee Kirchner, 32, of Wading River leaving his arraignment Wednesday morning. (Credit: Carrie Miller)
Curran Lee Kirchner, 32, of Wading River is led from his arraignment in town court earlier this month. He now stands charged with 10 felonies in county court. (File photo credit: Carrie Miller)

A Wading River man faces up to life in prison after prosecutors charged him with 10 felonies for allegedly videotaping and photographing sexual acts against two “helpless” women multiple times over five years.

Curran Lee Kirchner pleaded not guilty in county court Thursday morning through his court-appointed attorney to felony charges for sexual assault, criminal sexual acts, aggravated sexual abuse and sexual abuse. He was ordered to be held in Suffolk County jail without bail.

Assistant district attorney Kathleen Kearon said the 32-year-old Mr. Kirchner documented himself committing sex abuse against two women whom he knew while they were apparently physically helpless.

“You can tell their bodies are limp. Their eyes are closed,” she said, though she would not explain why the victims were helpless.

Mr. Kirchner allegedly held his victims with his hands — who were abused in seven separate incidents in “various states of undress” — while engaging in oral and anal sex acts with the women, Ms. Kearon told Judge Richard Ambro during Mr. Kirchner’s arraignment.

The majority of the photos and video show that the Wading River man had assaulted one woman multiple times without her knowledge between 2009 and 2012, prosecutors said. A second woman was also allegedly abused in the summer of 2013 at Mr. Kirchner’s 16th Street home.

Mr. Kirchner stood silently in the courtroom, handcuffed and dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans, as the prosecution detailed the crimes he is accused of committing. He only spoke to acknowledge the orders of protection Judge Ambro issued for the alleged victims.

The alleged abuse came to light after one of the victims found discs of photos and video inside Mr. Kirchner’s home. In a “controlled phone call,” Mr. Kirchner admitted to taking the videos and photos, the prosecutor said.

Ms. Kearon said Mr. Kirchner had beat one of the victims “throughout her body” during an incident in 2011, citing medical records documenting the woman’s injuries. An order of protection was issued, she said, though no arrest was believed to have been reported.

Mr. Kirchner was arrested in 2001 in Maryland for weapons possession, reckless driving and speeding, Ms. Kearon told the News-Review.

Prosecutors asked for Mr. Kirchner to be held without bail due to the “serious nature of the charges,” and the attorney representing him for the arraignment, Bryan Browns, declined to put in a bail application.

After the court proceedings, Mr. Browns said a different attorney would be appointed to Mr. Kirchner during his next court appearance on May 16 and would make an application for bail then before Judge Barbara Kahn.

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