Man to serve 29 months for assault on Foxwoods casino security officer
Mashantucket, CT November 15 2019
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Member Jukumu Reels-Felder was sentenced Tuesday in New London Superior Court to 29 months in prison for assaulting a security officer at Foxwoods Resort Casino on Aug. 25, 2018.
Reels-Felder, 29, had pleaded guilty to assault on a public safety officer and to a separate, unrelated charge of risk of injury to a minor.
Mashantucket Tribal Police obtained a warrant for Reels-Felder’s arrest after the victim, Foxwoods Resort Casino security officer Brooke Wyngaard, said a man, later identified as Reels-Felder, punched her the face while she was responding to a fight at the Fox Tower casino.
She said she and another officer were following a man who appeared headed toward the Fox Tower Parking Garage, and that she rounded a corner when her assailant “came out of nowhere” and punched her in the face.
She suffered multiple facial fractures and a broken nose and underwent multiple surgical procedures, according to Victim Services Advocate Johanna Krebs.
Wyngaard did not attend Tuesday’s brief sentencing hearing before Superior Court Judge Hunchu Kwak, but Krebs said she was aware of the plea deal that Reels-Felder’s attorney, Anthony R. Basilica, had worked out with the state: He will serve 10 years in prison, suspended after 29 months served, followed by three years of probation.
Judge Kwak noted the seriousness of the assault as he imposed the sentence and conditions of probation. Reels-Felder is to have no contact with the security officer and the unidentified victim of the risk-of-injury case.
Reels-Felder is to undergo substance abuse evaluation and treatment, domestic violence counseling and not use drugs or alcohol.
He is subject to random searches of his dwelling and GPS monitoring, if deemed necessary by the Office of Adult Probation, and is to stay out of Connecticut casinos, unless he receives permission to work there.
