DA: Bryon Hefner Made Prank Phone Calls to Treatment Center

The estranged husband of former Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg pleaded guilty Monday to making prank phone calls to a treatment facility where he was a patient.

Bryon Hefner, 31, who faces sexual assault and other charges in a separate case, pleaded guilty to four counts of making annoying phone calls and agreed to sufficient facts on two counts of criminal harassment in Concord District Court, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said Hefner used websites to place automated calls to a McLean Hospital facility in Lincoln while he was receiving mental health and substance abuse treatment in December and January.

The Boston Globe reports that the nature of the calls ranged from pretending to be from an adult video store to requesting sexual favors.

The Globe said Hefner's lawyer, Seth Orkand, told the court his client felt his life was "spiraling out of control" at the time the calls were made."

As part of his plea deal Monday, the judge sentenced Hefner to one year of probation with conditions, including staying away from and not contacting the facility, completing 50 hours of community service and complying with mental health treatment.

Hefner is still facing charges of sexual assault, distributing nude photos without consent and criminal lewdness. He pleaded not guilty in April and is expected to face trial in March of 2019.

Prosecutors allege that Hefner sexually assaulted one victim on three separate occasions in the Boston area, including once in June 2015 in a residential building and twice in April 2016 — in a car heading from one political event and going to another and at the political event itself.

This victim told Hefner to "screw off" after the incident in the car, court documents show. When they arrived at the other Boston event and were seated next to each other, Hefner then allegedly grabbed the victim's genitals through his clothes under the table without the man's consent.

Hefner allegedly assaulted one of his victims in December 2013, after he and his victim attended a conference that lasted for several days.

The victim recalled heavy drinking and then being in a hotel suite with Hefner. The victim said he woke up the next morning naked and alone in his own hotel room bed, with no memory of how he got there. The victim learned several years later that Hefner had allegedly taken photos of him while he was naked and shown them to at least four other people.

Hefner allegedly sexually assaulted another victim in 2014 and exposed his genitals to that victim in June 2016. The victim, who told investigators Hefner had been a close friend, claimed Hefner repeatedly tried to grope him and that he had to retreat to the bathroom to get away.

Court documents show the same victim took Hefner to his apartment after Hefner was refused entry into a party being hosted by another of Hefner's alleged victims, when Hefner repeatedly tried to get into the victim's bed with him in it. The victim told investigators he was "shocked and alarmed" when Hefner came into his bedroom to expose his genitals and then left, leaving his apartment's front door open.

The indictments also allege that Hefner sexually assaulted a third victim in August 2016. This victim told police that he and his wife were celebrating a friend's birthday on an apartment building's roof deck when Hefner joined the event. Hefner allegedly made unsolicited comments that the victim was "hot," and as the group was leaving the building, Hefner grabbed this victim and "kissed him aggressively on the lips without his consent."

All of the alleged offenses happened in Boston.

Rosenberg resigned in May afer the release of an ethics report that found he failed to protect the Senate from Hefner. He hasn't been criminally charged, but is the subject, with Hefner, of a civil lawsuit.