WARNING: Graphic Contents  

Roger Barriault early Sept. pled guilty to criminally sexually assaulting his foster daughter, ‘nearly 4000 times,’ beginning at age 8, continuing for 12 years – while his wife turned a blind eye

Barriault, 65, and his wife Darlene Barriault, 49, were arrested in early 2024, after their former foster daughter spoke out about her ‘daily sexual abuse’, from 2005 to 2012

Victim, identified as Crystal B., now 29, has filed a claim seeking $30 million from the state’s Department of Children and Families, [DCF], for negligence

DCF she claims, failed to properly investigate allegations she was sexually assaulted almost daily between ages 9 and 20

Her stay with the Barriaults’ began when she was 10, after her foster mom, Nikki Theriault, moved and left her with the couple 

The assailant allegedly, had sexually assaulted Crystal multiple times in Theriault’s home, but she was still sent the child to live with his family

Plaintiff, [Crystal], was being sexually abused by Roger Barriault, DCF struck a deal with Nikki Theriault and the Barriaults, facilitating his getting her pregnant at 12

DCF allegedly, struck a deal with Nikki Theriault and the Barriaults, allowing Crystal to remain in the home while investigating his sexual assault of another child

‘Crystal was in the care of his relative, Amy Seeber, but Roger was frequently alone with her and continued to sexually abuse her,’ – civil complaint

Crystal gave birth to Barriault’s daughter at 13, but continued to live with the family for eight years  

Victim reported the abuse to police in 2023, the couple were charged with emotional distress, negligence, sexual abuse, assault and exploitation  

Criminal conviction leaves Barriault facing a 25-year sentence, subject to a five-year mandatory minimum prison stay, followed by 20 years of probation

Jury selection in the civil lawsuit begins October 17

Roger Barriault pled guilty to first-degree sexual assault after years of abuse against his foster child and he got her pregnant at the age of 12. She began living in his home while he was being investigated for sexually assaulting another girl

A Connecticut man September 9, pled guilty to decade-log sexual assault of a foster child who started living in the care of his family member, before he grabbed her guardianship. Roger Barriault was accused of impregnating the minor, while she lived in his home, with his wife complicit to the molestation. 
His admission to to first-degree sexual assault in Connecticut means he is, at a minimum, facing a 25-year sentence, suspended after 10 years. The 65-year-old pedophile will be subject to a five-year mandatory minimum sentence followed by 20 years of probation.
Roger’s assault on the child resulted in her getting pregnant at the age of 12. The couple then applied to become legal guardians to the pregnant pre-teen. Their application was granted.
A victim, Crystal B., now 29 and still residing in Bristol, Connecticut, has filed a claim seeking $30 million from the state’s Department of Children and Families, [DCF], which she said failed to properly investigate allegations she was sexually assaulted almost daily between ages 9 and 20, while under the care of a local family.
Roger Barriault, the man named in the lawsuit, was arrested at home in Bristol on February 26, 2024, and charged with first-degree sexual assault. Weeks later, on February 14, his wife Darlene Barriault, 49, was arrested on similar charges after the victim spoke out about the horrific abuse she endured living as a foster child in their home from 2005 to 2012.
Crystal B. now 29, came into the Barriaults’ care after her foster mom, Nikki Theriault, moved and left her living in the couple’s home. 
Theriault, dropped her off 10-year-old Crystal with a suitcase to live with the family. At the time Theriault was aware adult in the household, Roger Barriault, had already sexually assaulted the child as an 8-year-old in a closet at Theriault’s home, and two other times prior to the new living arrengement, her attorney claimed in the complaint.
Less than four years later, before her 13th birthday, Crystal was pregnant with a child that DNA test would prove to be Barriault’s child.

Crystal B. now 29, filed a claim of $30 million against Connecticut DCF, alleging the Dept. failed to properly investigate allegations she was sexually assaulted almost daily between ages 9 and 20, by her foster dad, Roger Barriault, while in the care of his family

Roger Barriault was accused of repeatedly raping Crystal “approximately 3,800 to 4,000 times,” according to the police report, starting when she was 9.
When Crystal B. became pregnant at 12, Roger issued a threat that she should not speak out: ‘If I told anyone, I would be punished,’ the victim said.
‘My daughter would be taken away. I would be punished. I would be put in jail.’
In late 2024, Bristol police executed a warrant and obtained a cheek swab sample. The DNA lab test confirmed Roger Barriault is the father of Crystal’s daughter.
His wife, Darlene, has also been charged with risk of injury to a minor, in the case.
“She [Darlene] knew everything, and she did absolutely nothing,” Crystal said
Court documents clarify that the Barriaults were not Crystal’s legal foster parents. Infact, the DCF had not learned she was living with them until a year later, when they were notified that Roger was being investigated for sexually assaulting another girl in a case that dated back to 2005.
However, ‘despite the allegations against Roger Barriault, and DCF’s own admissions that they were concerned the Plaintiff was being sexually abused by Roger Barriault, DCF struck a deal with Nikki Theriault and the Barriaults that allowed Plaintiff [Crystal], to remain in the Bristol, Connecticut home of Darlene Barriault’s sister, Amy Seeber, while Roger Barriault’s matter was being investigated,’ a civil complaint read. 
Although the child was in Seeber’ care, Roger Barriault, a predator who had previously assaulted the child on multiple occasions was frequently alone with Crystal and continued to sexually abuse her, according to the complaint filed by her attorney Nate Baber. 
Furthermore, the DCF in 2008, endorsed and approved Roger and Darlene Barriault’s guardianship application of Crystal B. when she was 6 months pregnant with Roger Barriault’s baby, her lawyer said.

Crystal starting from age 10 lived the Barriault’s home in Bristol, Connecticut for a decade. She was raped almost daily by Roger Barriault, resulting in her becoming pregnant at the age of 12. The assailant has admitted to the crime

Crystal was then approved to live with the Barriaults in 2008 when it was revealed that she was pregnant with Roger’s baby. 
According to the civil complaint, the years-long abuse occurred in a home where multiple people were allegedly aware of the trauma, including the rapist’s wife, Darlene Barriault and her mother, Dawn Barkley. 
The complaint accused Darlene of knowing about the abuse for 11 years, failing to report her husband’s horrific abuse, even when Crystal became pregnant. 
‘She [Darlene] willingly concealed, hid, covered up, and conspired to hide Roger Barriault’s depraved sexual abuse of Plaintiff [Crystal],’ the document reads. 
Crystal speaking on her traumatic experience in an interview, recalled the ‘shocking moment’ when she told Darlene Barriault about the abuse.
‘She looked me in the face, blank-stared and just turned and walked away,’ Crystal said. She was 11 at the time. 
‘I didn’t know what to think… You tell someone that their husband is abusing you and like touching you inappropriately, they’re going to confront that. Look into it, anything like that, right?’ 
Crystal claimed that the abuse happened ‘every single day’ and that Roger took every opportunity to assault her. 
‘Whether it was in the pool, whether it was downstairs where he was living at the time, anywhere. The motor home, because they had that. Anywhere,’ she added. 

The Barriaults who had nine children living in their home at one time, received $400,000 in federal aid programs. The foster dad, Roger Barriault, [photo], was investigated for assaulting more than one minor girl

After Crystal gave birth to her daughter at 13 years old, she continued to live with the family for eight years.  
‘I cried the first two times I was raped but after that I just laid there thinking to myself that no one is going to help protect me,’ Crystal told police in an arrest affidavit. 
‘My morning routine consisted of making Roger coffee, peanut butter and jelly toast and having to lay in bed next to him after so he could rape me’. 
Crystal reported the abuse to police in 2023, and her foster parents were hit with charges that include emotional distress, negligence, sexual abuse, assault, and exploitation.  In January 2024, Roger was arrested in 2024 for first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor. 
His nephew also provided a statement to the police corroborating sick stories of abuse. Roger had groomed his foster daughter ‘by making her get dressed in front of him every day and bringing him breakfast in bed daily, where she had to climb into bed with him while he slept naked’. 
While he never witnessed the assaults, Barriault’s nephew believes his uncle’s behavior was ‘gross’. It was clear abuse had occurred, the he said. 

Survivor speaking about her disturbing experience, Crystal, [photo], recalled the shocking occasion when she told Darlene about the abuse at 11 years old – ‘She looked me in the face, blank-stared and just turned and walked away,’ Crystal said 

Crystal B. is now seeking monetary damages for the “severe physical and mental injuries she suffered as a result of defendant Roger Barriault’s repeated, brutal and pervasive acts of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, assault and battery of her over a period of nearly twelve years, beginning when she was 8 years old.
In addition to the cases against her foster parents, Crystal and her lawyer have filed a civil suit against DCF for alleged errors that allowed her to be in the Barriaults’ care for a decade. 
A report conducted by the Office of the Child Advocate [OCA], detailed ‘missed opportunities’ to remove Crystal from the abusive home. 
‘The system we have today has evolved significantly over the past 20 years, making the extensive inclusion of the decades-old Barriault case of limited utility for purposes of this report,’ DCF said in response to OCA’s findings.
‘For that reason, and due to ongoing criminal proceedings, DCF is not providing further comment here on that specific case’. 

Placed in foster care as early as when she was six months old, Crystal seen, [photo] as a toddler living with a different family, is seeking $30 million from the state DCF who ‘failed to conduct proper investigations of allegations she was sexually assaulted or report abuse to cops when it was proven

The report reads: ‘Mr. Barriault’s refusal to take paternity tests, and, later, receipt of text messages alluding to Mr. Barriault’s paternity, DCF did not contact the police to alert them to the allegations of sexual abuse’. 
The report while acknowledging that Probate Court approved guardianship, not DCF, accused the agency of not filing a petition to seek court-ordered paternity testing. 
OCA also found that Roger’s arrest for sexual abuse in 2005 against a different victim wasn’t properly logged, which allowed a DCF investigation to be waived when Crystal was first placed in their care. 
It also alleged that in 2015, the Probate Court received a text message from Roger to Crystal that read: ‘Please please please please I love you baby girl u no it to learn never do a can look at r beautiful girl we have together’. 
Another message read: ‘Look at the beautiful girl I gave you’. 
DCF had reported the message to the Probate Court while conducting an assessment on guardianship for Crystal’s child, but failed to file a police report, according to OCA’s report. 
The report also noted that the Barriaults claimed up to nine children and were receiving $400,000 in federal aid programs, and Crystal even paid over $23,000 in child support. 
Crystal’s attorney, Nate Baber, called it the ‘worst case of sexual abuse.’
‘Not once did they take her out of the house and do a forensic investigation like we do in every…case. Not once did they alert the police. Not once did they…interview her outside of the presence of the Barriaults. Not one time,’ Baber said in a media interview.

Crystal’s foster mother and Roger’s wife Darlene Barriault [photo], was also in February 2024 and charged in the case with risk of injury to a minor. “She [Darlene] knew everything, and she did absolutely nothing,” Crystal said

‘How does a 12-year-old girl become pregnant, and no one does anything about it? How is it that DCF is involved in a myriad of ways with this family for more than a decade, and she’s never removed from the house?’ he asked. 
DCF noted that they had a limited role in Probate cases, which is where Roger was granted guardianship of Crystal and her daughter.  
‘First and foremost, our hearts go out to the victim, and we applaud her bravery for coming forward. As always, we are grateful for the collaboration of law enforcement and for their work to help hold this individual accountable and bring forth justice,’ DCF Commissioner Designate Jodi Hill-Lilly said in a 2024 statement.
Commissioner Hill-Lilly clarifying that the DCF had ‘no involvement’ with the family between 2003 and 2006, said: ‘Also, Mr. Barriault and his wife were never licensed foster parents for the Department and the now adult victim was not placed into the home of Roger Barriault by the Department,’ the statement continued. 
Crystal who now has guardianship of her 12-year-old daughter after shed successfully contested the Barriaults’ guardianship of her child said: ‘I shouldn’t have a child at that age, but I did, so I kind of, I don’t know. I woke up and did what I had to do, and that was it, like there was no feeling behind it.’
Her daughter she said, is the ‘only reason’ she’s alive. ‘If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here. It’s what keeps me going,’ Crystal added. ‘If I go, she has no one, because we have no one, so I can’t leave her on this Earth alone’. 
The next court appearances for Darlene and Roger Barriault have been scheduled for October 17 and 30, for jury selection in the civil lawsuit.