An allegation of sexual abuse was made against a youth summer camp director in Tolland, and despite a confession, no charges were filed, but a state agency took action.
According to documents obtained by NBC Connecticut through a public records request, the alleged incident involved a 12-year-old boy and a director at the Star Hill Family Athletic Center’s day camp.
The camp runs from mid-June to the end of August and serves children ages 4 years old to 14 years old.
According to the documents, the incident occurred on August 16, 2023, during a field trip to Rocky Neck State Park in Niantic.
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A day later, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) received a complaint that upon returning home from camp, a 12-year-old boy told his mother that “a weird incident occurred in the Rocky Neck bathhouse” between the boy and a person whose name has been redacted from the complaint. The incident involved baby powder, but the details of what is alleged to have happened were redacted.
An investigation was opened by DCF, the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), and Connecticut State Police.
The state police detective investigating stated in an email that he was able to obtain a confession corroborating the victim’s claims, verifying there was a violation of sexual assault in the 4th degree.
Investigations
DCF, according to the documents, found abuse and neglect, and cited the Star Hill Family Athletic Center for multiple violations, finding that the camp director “engaged in emotional neglect and sexual abuse regarding a camper” and “does not have the personal qualities necessary to care for and work with children.”
In late September of last year, the OEC, in an email to Star Hill, gave the center the opportunity to surrender its youth camp license, saying “the evidence that we currently have raises significant concerns for us.”
Star Hill did not surrender its youth camp license and the camp is still operating.
In December, the investigating detective provided an update on the investigation to the Assistant Attorney General, writing in an email, that despite getting a confession, the New London State’s Attorney’s Office refused to sign the arrest warrant.
The detective wrote, “the assigned prosecutor did not believe she could prove intent of sexual assault in the case.” The detective continued, saying, “it was a very frustrating investigation, however, as a result, the investigation has been closed on my end.”
In the end, the OEC issued a consent order for the center to sign, in which the camp director is named.
The consent order reads, “the licensee shall not permit Michael Smida to provide care or have unsupervised access to a child” and “shall not permit Michael Smida to participate in any direct management, oversight or personnel function related to the operation of the youth camp.”
The managing member of Star Hill signed that consent order in March, and when the OEC performed an inspection in June, they found no violations of the order.
When NBC Connecticut called Star Hill on Wednesday, a person answering the phone referred to Smida as one of the people still in charge of the camp.
He is also still listed as part owner of the Star Hill Family Athletic Center’s LLC.
Attorneys for Star Hill and for Smida did not respond to NBC Connecticut’s request for comment.
See the full consent order below:
