A Connecticut woman accused of locking her stepson inside a decrepit house of horrors will not accept two plea deals that could have reduced her prison sentence.
Kimberly Sullivan, 57, is facing two first-degree kidnapping charges, as well as a first-degree assault charge, a first-degree unlawful restraint charge and intentional cruelty to persons charge for the alleged treatment of her now 32-year-old stepson.
Prosecutors have offered the mother a plea deal in which she would be sentenced to 30 years behind bars, which would be suspended after 20 years served with five years probation, the New York Post reports.
Judge Corinne Klatt then sweetened the deal in court on Wednesday by suggesting Sullivan serve 30 years in jail – with her sentence suspended after just 10 years.
But Sullivan’s attorney, Ioannis Kaloidis, has said she will be rejecting both deals when she returns to court on September 4.
‘I don’t anticipate this case resolving with anything that involves incarceration,’ he told reporters following the brief 90-second hearing.
‘Kimberly has done nothing wrong, so she’s surprised any of this is even occurring,’ he added of the stepmother, who has been freed since she posted $300,000 bond last year.
Kaloidis then went on to say that he is now hoping that by rejecting the plea deals, a trial could be scheduled for next year.
Lawyers for Kimberly Sullivan, 57, said on Wednesday they will reject two separate plea deals
Sullivan is facing two first-degree kidnapping charges, as well as a first-degree assault charge, a first-degree unlawful restraint charge and intentional cruelty to persons charge for the alleged treatment of her now 32-year-old stepson
The attorney has vehemently claimed that Sullivan is innocent of neglecting her stepson, who has only identified himself as ‘S’ – claiming instead that it was the boy’s father, Kregg Sullivan, who made the ‘decisions’ about his life.
She insists she encouraged better personal hygiene but ‘couldn’t force’ him to wash, and says she was ‘aware’ he was grossly underweight, but wasn’t responsible for it.
Sullivan also denied ever locking the victim inside his room, and claimed that he had free rein of the house, according to a warrant obtained by the New Haven Register.
Kregg Sullivan died in January 2024.
More than one year later, on February 17, 2025, Sullivan’s stepson set fire to a tiny upstairs bedroom of their Waterbury home.
When first responders arrived to put out the blaze, they found the emaciated man, weighing just 68 pounds. Prosecutors said he was ‘akin to a survivor of Auschwitz’s death camp’ at the time he was rescued.
As he was being treated for smoke inhalation, he confided in rescue crews that he set the blaze intentionally as a means to escape.
‘I wanted my freedom,’ the man allegedly told police.
He said he had been held captive since he was about 11 years old in an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning.
Following the fire, the alleged victim was treated for smoke inhalation and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
A thorough investigation then led authorities to believe the man ‘had been held in captivity for over 20 years, enduring prolonged abuse, starvation, severe neglect, and inhumane treatment.’
Prosecutors claim Sullivan left her stepson locked inside an 8-foot-by-9-foot room with no heat or air conditioning at their Waterbury, Connecticut home (pictured)
Inside the house, the living room was in disarray. What looked like a large dog cage sits in the middle of the room
The then 32-year-old allegedly told police how Sullivan deprived him of access to a bathroom, so he had to devise ways to dispose of his waste – including using a series of straws that led to a hole in the window.
He further claimed that he was constantly hungry. When he was in school, he said he would ask classmates for food, steal food and eat out of the garbage.
In later years when he was out of school and confined to the house, the man said he would get just two sandwiches a day and some water while locked in his room for at least 22 to 24 hours a day..
He would then save some of his daily ration of two small water bottles to bathe without soap and cut his own hair. Pieces of his teeth would even break off when he did eat because of a lack of dental care.
His only outside access was allegedly through a radio outside his bedroom, he told police. The radio helped him keep track of the years, current events and his other interests, including NASCAR and University of Connecticut basketball.
The stepson finally escaped on February 17 when he set a fire using hand sanitizer, a lighter and some paper
His limp body could be seen being carried into a waiting ambulance where he was bundled inside, as Sullivan expressed concern for her dogs’ wellbeing
After the shocking allegations came to light, teachers told the Daily Mail how they long had concerns about the man, who would drink out of urinals as a thirsty child at school.
Tom Pannone, the former principal of the now-closed Barnard Elementary School, recalled how the boy used to share horror stories of his home life since he was as young as five, when he already looked way too small for his age.
‘A teacher reported to me that he said the mother bought pizza one night, but he could not have any. It was only for the sisters and the rest of the family,’ Pannone said.
‘So this is when he was like five years old, and the red flags were flying at that age and reports were made. I couldn’t tell you how many times reports were made to children and family support agencies.’
The former principal also claimed he had repeatedly contacted authorities about the clearly malnourished boy with rotten teeth, but was always told his reports had been reviewed and the child was found to be safe.
Police said their only interactions with the family were in 2005. One of those encounters was for a welfare check after children who attended school with him expressed their concerns.
The boy was then pulled out of school at the age of 11.
By the time he was 14 or 15, the victim claimed he left the property for the very last time to help his father dispose of yard waste.
The man’s biological mother, Tracy Valleran, bemoaned that she knows nothing about his condition as she slammed prosecutors for offering a plea deal
The stepson now remains hospitalized to this day at an undisclosed location, according to the New Haven Register.
His biological mother, Tracy Vallerand, who gave up her son when he was just six months old and left him in the care of his father and his new wife, Kimberly, to raise, said it now ‘kills’ her every day that she does not know more about his condition or whereabouts.
‘I know nothing. I absolutely know nothing, and it’s frustrating, it’s very frustrating. It kills me every day,’ she bemoaned to the Post.
‘I’m also concerned with his development, his physical therapy, his mental therapy, everything,’ she continued. ‘I know he’s going to be f***ed for years and years and years, and it kills me.’
The worried mother also slammed prosecutors for offering Sullivan a plea deal, as she referred to Kaloidis as ‘Beavis’ from the sitcom Beavis and Butt-Head.
‘He is just in it to get his face in the news, on camera, saying, “Hey, look, I represent the worst of the worst,’ Vallerand said.
‘Unless they’re actually talking about 31 years of her life, I don’t want to hear it.’
