STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - A man accused of choking a woman to unconsciousness after meeting her through the Tinder dating app has applied for pre-trial probation and hopes his criminal charge can be erased. But a prosecutor says strangulation is too serious a crime for the program.
Socrates Alicea is charged with first-degree strangulation but applied for accelerated rehabilitation in Stamford Superior Court on Thursday. The program results in criminal charges being erased if a probation period is successfully completed.
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Valdes said he will oppose Alicea’s request, citing the seriousness of the allegations and evidence that has yet to be released, the Stamford Advocate reported.
Alicea, 33, a former resident of Kingston, New York, who now lives in Edgecomb, Maine, is accused of choking a woman he met through Tinder in November 2019 during a sexual encounter at a Stamford hotel. The woman told police she passed out, and that Alicea was gone when she woke up.
Alicea left his phone at the hotel, and police used it to identify and arrest him, authorities said.
Alicea told officers he went to the hotel to get a massage but backed out of paying for it while he and the woman were having sex, authorities said. He said he left the room when the woman became angry and screamed at him.
Alicea, who is due back in court on April 29, is not pleading guilty in applying for the probation program, his lawyer said.
“The facts do not match the allegations here, and this dismissal track is the fairest and quickest method to keep Mr. Alicia’s otherwise unblemished record free and clear from these false charges,” attorney Mark Sherman said.
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