By Michael Walsh

CCSU professor Moises Salinas has been suspended with pay after being arrested on charges of sexual assault in the fourth degree.

Salinas, 44, of West Hartford was arrested on Sept. 1 by Newington Police after turning himself in based on charges that he sexually assaulted a 22-year-old CCSU student. Salinas was also charged with second-degree unlawful restraint of the woman. The alleged assault happened on Feb. 18 in Newington.

Salinas was held on a bail of $75,000 and is scheduled to appear in New Britain court on Sept. 14.

“Because it’s a pending legal matter we can’t comment other than to say he was suspended with pay pending the outcome,” said Mark McLaughlin, Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communication.

The woman complained to her adviser the Monday after the alleged incident occurred leading to other CCSU faculty and officials getting involved, including an internal investigation by CCSU attorney Carolyn Magnan. Newington police were notified on April 29, after the school’s internal investigation.

In the warrant the woman says that Salinas mentioned in a conversation on Facebook that he would write her a letter of recommendation for graduate school and invited her to lunch to talk about her post-graduation plans.

When the two met on Feb. 18 the woman claims that Salinas suggested they take his car and that while she found it odd, she got into his vehicle. Salinas allegedly first drove to a bar and instead of parking in the available spaces in the front, he decided to park in the back. When they got out of the car, the woman says that Salinas interlocked arms with her but she let her arm go limp because she felt uncomfortable. The woman says that as soon as they walked in, Salinas decided to immediately leave. The woman said he told her that he “knew too many people in the bar.”

At the second restaurant the woman claims she pointed out available parking in the front thinking he would again park in the back, which Salinas allegedly did, ignoring her request. While walking to the restaurant Salinas allegedly tried to interlock arms with the woman once again.

According to the warrant, the woman claims that once the two were seated in the restaurant Salinas pulled his chair “so close to her that his leg rubbed on her and she could not move away.” She also claims that he rubbed the top part of her thighs and her hand while at the table. The woman said “she told Dr. Salinas that she did not tolerate anyone touching her inappropriately,” according to the warrant.

The woman told Newington police that “she felt the lunch meeting was not about her graduate plans or the letter so she began to ramble on about her meeting with another professor,” and that “he looked at her ugly” when she told him that another professor was her favorite. According to the warrant, Salinas took the food out of the woman’s hand, tossed it on the table, got up and said “Let’s go.”

When they got in the car, the woman said she placed her large purse on her lap and buckled her seatbelt. The woman said that Salinas grabbed her purse and tossed it in the back seat before removing her seatbelt. According to the warrant Salinas “put his hand in her crotch and slowly removed the belt ends out from in between her legs and rubbed on her thighs as he pulled his hand out.”

The woman claims that Salinas managed to kiss her on the cheek and that while she tried to pull away, Salinas was allegedly able to force his tongue into her mouth, despite her claim that she tried to keep her mouth closed. The woman says that the whole time she told him that she had to go and he just ignored him.

According to the warrant Salinas “put his hands on her thigh again and rubbed his way up into her crotch and grabbed her crotch.” The woman said she closed her legs tighter and pushed his hands away. The woman told police that she felt so violated and said she felt like screaming, but she said she thought he would get angrier. She told police that she “thought of running out of the car but she didn’t because the parking lot was empty and she wasn’t sure she would be able to get away from him.”

On Feb. 25, prior to knowing a complaint had been filed against him, Salinas sent the woman a Facebook message saying “Just wanted to say hi. I really enjoyed having lunch with you…Let me know when you have time, we’ll do it again.”

Salinas then sent the woman another message on Facebook after being interviewed by Attorney Magnan. In the message Salinas said “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry if you were upset at me. If I did anything that bothered you or offended you when we met for lunch, I truly apologize.”

Salinas declined to speak to Newington police, but did talk to Magnan. Salinas denied most of what the woman told the police, but said he might have touched the woman’s thighs and that he did hug her and attempt to kiss her on the cheek. Salinas, who was born in Mexico, told Magnan that it is in his culture to hug and kiss people.

Magnan said that she believed that the incident was worsened by the fact that Salinas was the woman’s professor at one point, putting him in a place of power and authority. The woman told police that she never “lead on” Salinas and that during her conversations with him never brought up anything that wasn’t related to academics.

In her investigation, Magnan found that Salinas initiated most of the communications. She also found that Salinas attempted to mislead her by altering e-mails sent through the CCSU e-mail to make the woman look like the initiator. Magnan said that CCSU IT retrieved the correct e-mails and mentioned that Salinas’ versions did not match the original emails but that the woman’s did.

Magnan recommended the matter to the university’s human resource office for further action.

Salinas, associate professor in the psychology department, was set to teach this fall prior to his arrest. Salinas was also the school’s first chief diversity officer before being removed from that position sometime in March.

Updated Sept. 10, 3:30 p.m.