Published January 13, 2015
A former high school wrestling star who fled to Europe before his rape trial and lived a jet-set life for years before surrendering was released from prison Friday.
Alex Kelly, 40, was released from the Bridgeport Correctional Center just after 7 a.m., said Correction Department spokesman Brian Garnett.
Kelly was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to 16 years in prison for raping a 16-year-old girl in February 1986. He later pleaded no contest to raping a 17-year-old girl four days after the first incident, but received no additional jail time.
A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.
Kelly only served 10 years in prison because his sentence came under the state's now-defunct system of giving inmates time off for good behavior. He will spend the next 10 years on probation and must pay a $10,000 fine.
A woman, who would not identify herself, answered the door at the Kelly's parents' Darien home Friday and declined to comment. Phone calls also went unanswered at the home.
A phone and e-mail message seeking comment was left with Kelly's lawyer.
In 1987, just before his trial was about to start, Kelly fled the country. He spent the next eight years in Europe, skiing, hang gliding and mountain climbing with money authorities say his wealthy parents sent him. He surrendered in Switzerland in 1995.
Kelly's parents, Joseph and Melanie Kelly, were never charged with aiding their son while he was a fugitive.
At a parole hearing two years ago, Kelly repeatedly apologized. Asked why he raped the victims, he said he was "hypercompetitive" and dreamed of a life filled with medals and girlfriends. Kelly said he had been under the belief that the world owed him something.
The state parole board rejected Kelly's release at the time, after the women described the violent attacks that left them traumatized.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/former-jet-set-fugitive-convicted-of-raping-2-teens-released-from-jail