Bryon Hefner, estranged husband of former Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg, gets probation in sex assault case
Shira Schoenberg | sschoenberg@repub.com Shira Schoenberg sschoenberg@repub.com
Bryon Hefner, estranged husband of former Senate President Stan Rosenberg of Amherst, was sentenced to three years’ probation.
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BOSTON — On the eve of his trial, Bryon Hefner, the estranged husband of former Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

Hefner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of indecent assault and battery on someone over 14, assault and battery, and dissemination of a visual image of a nude or partially nude person. Prosecutors agreed to drop six additional related charges.

He was sentenced to three years’ probation. He was also sentenced to one year in jail, suspended for three years, so he will only be sent to jail if he violates his probation.

He will have to register as a sex offender.

In a brief statement in court, Hefner apologized to his victims and to his family.

Hefner had been set to go to trial on Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court on five counts of indecent assault and battery against three different men. He was also facing a separate trial for allegedly distributing nude photographs without the subject’s consent.

Hefner pleaded guilty to grabbing the genitals of one man over the man’s clothes repeatedly as they were in the Beacon Hill condominium Hefner shared with Rosenberg.

He pleaded guilty to forcefully kissing another man on the lips, in front of the man’s wife and others, at a party on a roof deck in Boston.

He also pleaded guilty to disseminating a nude photo of a man he took while the man was intoxicated in a hotel room at a conference. That victim woke up alone in a hotel room after drinking with no recollection of what happened, and years later learned that Hefner had a nude photo of him, which Hefner had sent to someone else.

In a statement read by Special Assistant Attorney General Ian Polumbaum, the victim who Hefner admitted to groping said Hefner exhibited “clear amusement in my discomfort and his power over me.” The victim said Hefner used assault as “an extension of his political influence and insider gamesmanship.”

The victim, who at the time worked in the Statehouse, said the assaults made him feel vulnerable and helpless, and removed any sense of safety he had in a social or professional setting. The man said he is no longer able to work in the Statehouse because of the anxiety and paranoia he feels there.

Among the charges that prosecutors dropped was an accusation that Hefner groped the same man one evening as they rode in the backseat of Rosenberg’s car going from one political event to another, and as they sat at a dinner table in a Boston restaurant after the event, with Rosenberg and other political insiders. The victim said he worried about losing his job or reputation if he spoke up. He continues to distance himself from former friends, colleagues and peers rather than risk seeing someone who was part of Rosenberg and Hefner’s political circles.

The victim who Hefner admitted to forcefully kissing said in a statement read by Polumbaum that Hefner’s assault was motivated by power, and Hefner “wantonly exploited and assaulted people solely for his own twisted enjoyment.”

That victim said similarly that he was “terrified to say anything” and believed his career would be in jeopardy if he spoke up because of Rosenberg’s influence.

Polumbaum said all four men who were the subject of the initial charges were satisfied with a sentence of probation. The all wanted Hefner to admit to the charges and be held accountable, but they also wanted to remain anonymous.

In court, Hefner said he has been treated for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol and substance use. He is in recovery for alcoholism. Hefner and Rosenberg are separated.

Hefner’s attorney Tracy Miner said alcohol was involved in each of the incidents that Hefner admitted to. “He’s recovering and would ask for privacy to aid in his recovery,” Miner said. “This puts the ordeal behind him and it’s also a good resolution for the victims.”

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Mary Ames, in imposing the sentence, called Hefner’s repeated acts of sexual violence “striking.” “They’re egregious and there is an outrageousness to them and to the manner in which they have been committed,” Ames said. She said sexual assaults like those committed by Hefner are “about exerting power over the victim and power over any other members of the community that may come to know about the assault.”

As a condition of his probation, Ames is requiring Hefner to register as a sex offender, continue treatment for his mental health and substance abuse problems, remain drug and alcohol-free, not have contact with any victims or witnesses in the case, and maintain full-time employment. Hefner is currently working as a cook.

“If you decide after this change of plea to veer from the correct route in doing all of the things this court expects you to do, you will come back before me and it will not be a pleasant conversation,” Ames told Hefner.

The case started after a 2017 story in the Boston Globe exposed Hefner’s inappropriate behavior toward other men, including people who had political business with Rosenberg. Hefner was indicted in March of 2018.

Rosenberg stepped down as Senate president and ultimately resigned from the Senate in May 2018 after an independent investigation commissioned by the Senate Ethics Committee faulted him for “a significant failure of judgment and leadership.” While there was no evidence Rosenberg knew of the sexual assaults, the report found that Rosenberg knew Hefner was behaving inappropriately, yet still gave him access to his Senate affairs.