Sexual Abuse

The Associated Press reports that a former Kingston fire chief who abruptly retired in February shortly after receiving a new contract now faces a sexual assault charge. Robert Heath has been charged with indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older. Police say the 59-year-old Heath put his hands down a 23-year-old man’s pants […]

A Massachusetts man has been arrested and charged with sexually abusing a 3-year-old New York girl after sending photos of the abuse to an undercover investigator with the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office in Arkansas. According to reports, 30-year-old Michael McCann of Haverhill, Mass. came into contact with an undercover investigator with the Faulkner County Sheriff’s […]

The Eagle Tribune reports that defrocked and formerly jailed ex-priest Ronald Paquin, who was assigned to parishes in Haverhill and Methuen, will be held without bail on a fugitive from justice charge until late next week. Paquin, 74, was arrested on Wednesday in Boston after a grand jury in York County, Maine, handed down an […]

The Salem News reports that a former Catholic priest who was at the center of the Boston Archdiocese sex scandal in 2002 is facing new charges of sexual abuse in Maine that date back to the 1980s. On Monday, a grand jury in Maine indicted former priest Ronald Paquin, 74, of Massachusetts on 29 counts […]

A Massachusetts man pleaded guilty on Thursday to transporting a minor from New Hampshire and engaging in sexual activity with her. Lawrence Marks, 35, of Tewksbury, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to transportation of a minor in interstate commerce for illegal sexual activity, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Donald Feith. He is scheduled to […]

In a ruling hailed by survivors of child sexual abuse, the state’s highest court has upheld a 2014 law that gave victims an additional 32 years to file civil lawsuits against alleged perpetrators, according to the Boston Globe. The Supreme Judicial Court’s unanimous decision also upheld the part of the law that applies the extension […]

Four more women are planning to join a federal lawsuit against Bill Cosby, claiming the comedian sexually abused them and later defamed them by letting his representatives publicly label their stories lies. Cosby’s lawyers were expected to file a response Friday to a defamation lawsuit filed last year in federal court in Massachusetts. Instead, a […]

A Ludlow woman who successfully pushed for new legislation extending the statute of limitations for alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse to file lawsuits will get her day in court. Kathy Picard, 52, has said previously she worked for 12 years to push a new bill extending the deadline for alleged victims to sue. The […]

A man wanted in Massachusetts for allegedly raping a child was arrested Tuesday in the town of Austerlitz, New York, according to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. Zachary Santoro, 28, was arrested on a warrant at his home on Rapp Road, deputies said. The arrest was part of a joint investigation between the Massachusetts State […]

A former student at a Massachusetts preparatory school has filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was sexually abused by a faculty member while on athletic trips to Connecticut in the 1980s. The former Deerfield Academy student names the school and its former golf and squash coaches as defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed in […]

Nice piece about this motorcycle group helping childhood victims of sex abuse and assault.

The YWCA of Western Massachusetts has received a substantial grant to fight domestic violence and sexual abuse. The nearly $1 million dollar grant comes from the U.S. Department of Justice. It will be distributed over a three year period. “It focuses on victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking,” says Mary Reardon […]

The Lowell Sun reports that disturbing new allegations have emerged in a human-trafficking case in which a prosecutor says a Lowell man — who is a member of a notorious street gang — had only been out of prison for several weeks when he plied a vulnerable 13-year-old girl with drugs and alcohol, raped her, […]

The University of Massachusetts Amherst and its alumnus Bill Cosby have split ways amid allegations of sexual assault and rape, as reported by CNN. At least 15 women have spoken out to various media outlets accusing the comedian of sexual misconduct. “Bill Cosby has agreed to resign as an honorary co-chair of UMass Amherst’s capital […]

A former high-ranking member of a Roman Catholic religious order has been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for raping a boy at a Massachusetts summer camp in the 1980s. The Rev. Richard McCormick, of New York, was also sentenced last week in Lawrence Superior Court to 10 years of probation. The 73-year-old […]

A former Roman Catholic priest has settled a lawsuit alleging that he later sexually abused a 14-year-old student student in New York and Boston, the former student’s attorney said Wednesday, as reported by the Times-Picayune and nola.com. Sean Leo Rooney served on the faculty at Archbishop Shaw High School from 1975 until 1979. The lawyer, […]

Four clerics accused of abuse in Massachusetts. You can read about it here. A watchdog group that documents the clergy sex abuse crisis added the four names to its public database of priests and other religious leaders accused of sexual abuse.

A Pittsfield man has been found guilty of child rape for sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl. A Berkshire Superior Court jury took a little more than two hours to convict Erick Ruiz-Trujillo of one count of rape of a child with force. Authorities say the 32-year-old Ruiz-Trujillo raped the girl in November 2012. While not […]

Boston Globe delves into story of former Emerson college student accusing the school of botching an investigation into her rape case.

Massachusetts legislators have passed a bill to extend by 32 years the statute of limitations for filing civil suits against perpetrators of sexual abuse of minors. The new law gives child victims of sexual abuse until age 53 to sue their alleged abusers. The law also allows lawsuits against abuser’s supervisors and the institution that […]

A Somerville teacher was charged with raping a 13-year-old student after authorities said the victim’s mother saw disturbing online communications. “The idea that a teacher would use their position of authority to manipulate an impressionable young teenager is unsettling and alarming,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan said. Alexandra Romanos, 41, of Stoneham, a fifth-grade […]