Resolution reached in Wilton penis statue case

WILTON – There’s a resolution in the case of the Wilton man arrested for placing a large penis sculpture in his front lawn.

Jamie Gagne carved a seven-foot statue out of a pine tree and placed it in the front yard of his Ruggles Road home in protest of town code enforcement, who had ticketed him over plans for his under-construction workshop. The sculpture stayed up for several days in June of 2020, until state police showed up, made Gagne take it down and arrested him for "publicly displaying offensive sexual material."

NewsChannel 13 has learned that the charge has been adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, which means it will be dropped if Gagne doesn’t have another dispute with the town.

District Attorney Karen Heggen says the ACOD was contingent on Gagne taking care of the code issues and agreeing to keep the statue out of the view of the public road.

Gagne released this statement to NewsChannel 13:

"The Wilton Woody saga finally reached its unexciting conclusion after a year and a half of nonsense. All but 2 of the 13 international property code violations i was accused of were dismissed on condition of resolving the issues with the building permit, the 2 that remained left me with a fine of $250. My lawyer assured me that although it’s not a victory it’s probably the best outcome i could’ve hoped for.

The misdemeanor for the chainsaw carved statue was unceremoniously dismissed via mail.

I’d just like to remind everyone that code enforcement is nothing more than the targeted enforcement arm of municipal government. They can’t be held liable for any decisions they make that concerns safety, that liability falls on the architect or engineer. The enforcement of code is discretionary and therefore not applied equally to all residents but rather wielded as a tool to Target individuals at the whim of local governments."