05/08/2007: "Local Man In Jail For Sex Crime"

A local man has pleaded guilty to a charge of having a sexually relationship with a 14 year old girl, and now faces prolonged jail time.

According to court records, when the was first interviewed by a SJC Detective on 26th of February 2006, she stated that she and defendant had “been involved in a relationship for almost nine months” and “that they are engaged to be married”.

Not so, said the boyfriend, who denied he was the girls boyfriend, or that they were engaged, and “they had not had sexual relations”. He also told the Detective “he knew it would be illegal for him to engage in such actions because of their respective ages”. The man was 21 years old at the time of the interview.

The investigation began in January, 2006, when the mother of the child found evidence of a sexual relationship in her daughter’s bedroom; and the following night had “found the defendant crouched below her daughter’s bedroom window”. Prior to this incident, the mother had received a restraining order in November of 2006 against the defendant, restricting him from having any contact with her daughter.

The investigation led to a charge of Rape of a Child in the Third Degree, to which the defendant pleaded guilty to on May 4, 2007. The maximum sentence and fine for the charge is 5 years and a $10,000.00 fine, while the “Standard Range of Actual Confinement” is 12 plus to 14 months.

Following a pre-sentence investigation by the SJC District Court Adult Probation Office, the sentencing hearing will be on June 29, 2007. In the meantime, because the defendant admitted to the crime and pleaded guilty, he has been confined pending his sentence hearing.