Boston Sexual Abuse Lawyer Blog

A Framingham High School student has been accused of raping a classmate on a school bus.

The 15-year-old boy was arrested last Thursday at the school and charged with rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child 14 or younger, according to Wicked Local.

The victim -- a 14-year-old girl -- was assaulted on the bus last Wednesday, police said.
Parents said they were concerned that they were not notified about the alleged assault.
The superintendent's office did not comment on the case.

Mel Levine, 71, a nationally renowned pediatrician accused of sexual misconduct with boy patients beginning in the 1960s, left a suicide note before he was found dead last week, as reported by the News-Observer (N.C.).

The Orange County Sheriff's Office responded to Levine's home in Rougemont after a call from his wife just after midnight Friday. The sheriff's report does not list a cause of death or tell where Levine's body was found but says his wife had last seen him Feb. 12.

The state medical examiner's office is investigating Levine's death. Law enforcement agencies can ask the medical examiner, based at UNC-Chapel Hill, to examine the body of anyone who dies suddenly or unexpectedly.

Barbara Levine found the note Thursday night, according to the sheriff's report, the same day 30 former patients filed a class-action lawsuit against Levine in Massachusetts. He is accused of unnecessarily examining the genitals of young male patients since the 1960s in Massachusetts and North Carolina. In 2009, he agreed to cease practicing medicine but denied the claims against him.

The lawyer who represents the plaintiffs in Massachusetts, Carmen Durso, plans to aim the suit at Levine's estate and will seek a judge's permission to solicit 5,000 male patients who saw Levine in the 1960s, '70s and '80s to join the class-action suit.

Durso also plans to sue Boston Children's Hospital on behalf of at least five patients at UNC-CH, where Levine moved three years before the first lawsuit against him surfaced in 1988. Durso said families complained about Levine's alleged sexual abuse of their sons as early as 1967. Durso had previously sued Levine on behalf of five individual patients between 2005 and 2008.

"If Children's Hospital had taken some action against Melvin Levine, he likely would not have been able to go to Chapel Hill and they would not have been abused," Durso said.

Children's Hospital released a statement saying it received only one complaint about Levine in 20 years there, a case that later went to court and was dismissed.

"His actions were found to be appropriate within the context of the child's medical needs," the statement said. "Children's would not, and did not, cover up any inappropriate conduct relating to Dr. Levine. The fact of the matter is that except for the one complaint we investigated, no one alerted the hospital to any concerns regarding Dr. Levine.

"If the allegations of these former patients are true, we are devastated and our most heartfelt sympathies go out to the victims of Dr. Levine's wrongdoing."

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass, has revealed in an interview to air Sunday night, Feb. 20, 2011, on the CBS program "60 Minutes," that he was sexually abused as a child by a camp counselor, and has detailed physical abuse by a stepfather.

The Massachusetts Republican said Wednesday that he hopes the childhood physical and sexual abuse he writes about in his new book can inspire others to overcome similar challenges.

"My book is about overcoming obstacles," Brown said in a statement. "The physical and sexual abuse is in my book. It's a part of my life, but it certainly isn't the only part of my life story which I tell."

He details the childhood trauma in a new book, "Against All Odds" which is coming out Monday. In advance of his new book, Brown in an upcoming TV interview talked about the abuse he suffered while growing up in Massachusetts.

The camp counselor threatened to kill him if he disclosed the sexual abuse, Brown said in an interview to air Sunday night on CBS' "60 Minutes."

"He said, 'If you tell anybody ... I'll kill you. I will make sure nobody believes you,'" Brown said in the interview. Brown also said he looked into buying a home where his stepfather had physically abused him just so he could "burn it down."

Brown said that being physically abused at home and being the product of broken homes made him more vulnerable to sexual predators.

"When people find people like me at that young, vulnerable age, who are basically lost, the thing that they have over you is, they make you believe that no one will believe you," he told the program.

Brown added that even his mother has not known about the sexual abuse.

"That's what happens when you're a victim. You're embarrassed. You're hurt," he told CBS.

Brown emerged on the national political scene with his improbable victory in the race for seat long held by the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Brown said Wednesday he hopes the book will educate and inspire other people facing similar challenges to those he faced during his childhood. "I hope people will read it and be inspired by its message," Brown said in a statement Wednesday.

As a state legislator in Massachusetts, Brown was a strong advocate for sexual abuse victims, working on several bills, including elongating the criminal statute of limitations.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/nation/2011/02/sen-brown-reveals-he-was-sexually-abused-child#ixzz1EHJxLapG

The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) report a fourth member of the MSP Ten Most Wanted Sex Offender List was captured Feb. 9 after state troopers directed Florida police to the suspect's location, according to the Westborough patch website.

Officers from Florida's Lee County Sheriff's Office arrested Robert H. Griggs, Jr., 51, at the Green Wave Motel on Palm Beach Boulevard in Fort Myers. Sheriff's deputies were directed to the location after Trooper Steve McDonald of the MSP Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section developed information that Griggs may be staying at a motel on or near Palm Beach Boulevard.

Griggs, who is classified as a high risk Level 3 offender by the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, is wanted by the Fitchburg Police Department for failure to register as a sex offender as required by law. He was required to register because of a 1994 conviction in Massachusetts for open and gross misconduct and lewd and lascivious behavior and a 1995 conviction in Texas for aggravated sexual assault on a child.

Griggs was booked at the Lee County jail and will be held pending his rendition to Worcester County to answer to the failure to register warrant.

Griggs is the fourth member of the Top Ten Most Wanted Sex Offender List to be captured since the list was updated by State Police and the Sex Offender Registry Board last week. Last week, Level 3 offenders Caesar J. Delgado, Steven M. Hescock, and Franklin C. Miller were captured.

The Berkshire Eagle reports that Gary Mercure, the Catholic priest, could spend the rest of his life in prison for raping two altar boys in the Berkshires.
It took less than two hours for a Berkshire Superior Court jury to convict the 62-year-old on three counts of forcible child rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child younger than 14.
The charges stem from separate crimes committed by Mercure in 1986 and 1989, when he raped altar boys from his former Catholic church in Queensbury during day trips to the Berkshires.

Judge John A. Agostini ordered the Troy, N.Y., clergyman to be held without bail at the Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction until he is sentenced Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Mercure smiled at his crying sister as he was led away in handcuffs.
Mercure, who was permanently removed from ministry in New York in 2008 but technically remains a priest, plans to challenge the conviction.

Several of the priest's victims were present when Thursday's guilty verdicts were handed down. Afterward, one victim wiped tears from his eyes while making a call on his cell phone, while others embraced Berkshire First Assistant District Attorney Paul J. Caccaviello and Assistant District Attorney Marianne Shelvey, the prosecutors who tried the case.
The victims were escorted from the Pittsfield courthouse by plainclothes Massachusetts State Police troopers and court officers, who prevented members of the media from approaching them.
Caccaviello said the victims didn't wish to speak with the reporters who crowded the courthouse hallway with television cameras and microphones.
"They're still processing this," he said.
Caccaviello said Mercure's conviction should bring some closure to the victims, who remained mum about the abuse for more than 20 years.
"We're very gratified for that verdict," he said, calling the victims "heroes" for coming forward.
Asked how the victims were faring, Caccaviello replied, "Right now, there's a whole range of emotions."
The Berkshire District Attorney's Office hasn't yet formulated its sentencing recommendation, but Mercure could spend the rest of his life behind bars. "He's been convicted of life felonies," Caccaviello said.
So much of the trial's testimony focused on individuals and events from New York, with only a fraction of the testimony pertaining to the Berkshire County assaults.
"It presented difficult challenges," Caccaviello admitted.
However, the jury ultimately believed the testimony of the five altar boys who accused Mercure of long-term sexual abuse in New York during the 1980s.
Two of those men also testified that Mercure raped them during car trips to the Berkshires, including a 1986 outing to a hiking area bordering Great Barrington and Monterey and a 1989 trip to the former Brodie Mountain Ski Area in New Ashford.
"I think that the jury could tell that our two victims were credible," Caccaviello said.
All of the former altar boys hail from New York and are now in their 30s, including one who's the father of an infant child.

Continue reading "Mercure Convicted of Child Rape" »

The Massachusetts State Police arrested two more of the state's Top Ten Most Wanted Sex Offenders Feb. 4, just two days after updating the list. Another member of the list was captured yesterday.

The State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section continues to search for the remaining seven offenders on the list.

Police have arrested CAESAR J. DELGADO, 44, in a second floor apartment at 45 Pacific St. in Central Falls, R.I. Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section Trooper Michael Forni and Lowell Police Detective Raymond Jean traveled to Rhode Island to follow leads they had developed about DELGADO. There, they met with members of the Rhode Island State Police Violent Fugitive Task Force.

After checking multiple addresses, the investigator's efforts led them to the Pacific Street address, where DELGADO was found and arrested. He was transported to the Rhode Island State Police Barracks in Lincoln to be booked. He was expected to be arraigned as a fugitive in Providence, and arrangements will be made to rendite him to Massachusetts.

DELGADO is wanted in Middlesex County on four counts each of rape of a child with force and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, as well as for failure to register as a sex offender. His registration is required by a previous conviction for indecent assault on a child. DELGADO had been previously arrested last October but fled a month later after cutting off the GPS monitoring bracelet.

The State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section also arrested STEVEN M. HESCOCK, 34, at a relative's house at 80 Constitution Ave. in Revere. Sgt. Thomas Greeley and Mark Lynch and Troopers Colette Tamulevis, Robert Coletti and Richard Sementelli developed information that HESCOCK was at that address. As troopers approached the house, HESCOCK tried to run out a back door, but was subdued by Trooper Coletti and apprehended.

HESCOCK is wanted in Middlesex and Suffolk Counties for failure to register as a sex offender, assault and battery, larceny and motor vehicle violations. He is expected to be arraigned in Chelsea District Court.

Also found at that address was KERRY DOLE, 25, a friend of HESCOCK, who was found to be the subject of five warrants. She was also arrested.

DELGADO and HESCOCK were the second and third members of the Top Ten Most Wanted Sex Offenders list arrested since the list's release. Previously, troopers located FRANKLIN C. MILLER, 33, who is wanted for failure to register as a sex offender, at a Boston shelter.

A 54-year-old Massachusetts man was arrested after he traveled to Michigan to have sex with a 13-year-old girl whom he "married" in an online role-playing game, according to authorities, as reported by the NY Daily News.

John Phillips, of Fitchburg, faces a slew of charges, including sexual assault, child sexually abusive activity and accosting a child for immoral purposes, police said during a press conference earlier this week.

Phillips met the Detroit teen last year while playing the multiplayer RuneScape game. The two had a fictitious marriage in the game, said Wayne County Sheriff's Cpl. Ray Johnson.

"Maybe he thought that was legitimate in real life," Johnson told The Boston Globe. "It's not."

Police said the man drove from his home to meet his online bride in Detroit, where he had sex with her and gave her a cell phone so they could talk.

The teen's mother contacted police after catching the girl with the cell phone.

An investigation led to the discovery of at least three sexual encounters between the two over several months, one in a hotel, one in a van and one in the girl's home.

Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon said Phillips was arrested in upstate New York, while visiting his father. Phillips had tried to disguise himself by dyeing his hair and growing his beard.

If convicted, Phillips will face four to 20 years behind bars.

A sexual assault case against a Connecticut man involving a 14-year-old girl took an unexpected turn at Hartford Superior Court when a Massachusetts woman appeared with a new allegation of abuse that allegedly occurred in Somerville 21 years ago, as reported by the Somerville Patch website.

Nelson M. Kawakami, 57, of 401 Prospect Ave., West Hartford, Conn., was expected in court January 19 for a plea hearing on multiple felony charges, including second-degree sexual assault and five counts of felony risk of injury to a child.

Superior Court Judge John F. Cronan instead abruptly issued a continuance before his court opened for public business. The request for a continuance was not made by the defense, but by the judge, whose office the Massachusetts woman, now 30, contacted.

Kawakami is now scheduled to return to court March 2.

Outside of court was a Massachusetts woman who says authorities were recently informed that she also was allegedly sexually assaulted by Kawakami, a relative, when she was 9 and living in Somerville. She has not filed a police report.

The Massachusetts woman was at Superior Court with a sister, 29, and their mother, 57. Until Wednesday, they said they have not seen Kawakami in 15 years and became aware of the case in the news.

"We just want to support the 14-year-old girl," the woman's sister said.

Details of the Massachusetts woman's alleged abuse were apparently e-mailed to authorities. A statement was faxed to Superior Court Jan. 3. The woman no longer lives in Somerville.

Without a sworn statement reporting a crime, the woman's claims against Kawakami would not be admissable evidence in court.

Kawakami, who was arrested by police Nov. 18, remains free on $75,000 bail.

The alleged West Hartford sexual assault occurred June 1, 2006, West Hartford police said. The victim revealed the alleged abuse to police last year. At the time of the alleged assault, Kawakami was working as a contractor at the victim's home, police said.

Other details emerged from the West Hartford police arrest warrant.

The Connecticut victim, now 19, came to the police station Sept. 17 with two other women and filed a sexual assault complaint. One of the women was Kawakami's wife, Marlene Kawakami, who was described as a friend of the victim.

Marlene and Nelson Kawakami have been married 29 years, according to the arrest warrant. Mr. Kawakami later provided a sworn confession, police said.

State Police have arrested a man wanted for failing to register as a sex offender at a shelter in Boston yesterday afternoon, one day after he appeared on their list of the "Top Ten Most Wanted Sex Offenders'' in the state. Troopers found Franklin Miller, 33, eating lunch at a shelter on Stanhope Street, State Police said in a statement. Intelligence suggested that Miller spent Wednesday night at a friend's house in the Back Bay, State Police said. Miller was previously convicted of raping a child and was expected to be arraigned in Fitchburg District Court, State Police said.

Suspended Lawrence city police officer Kevin Sledge will serve a minimum of 10 years without parole in state prison for raping an intoxicated 23-year-old mother while he was on duty and in uniform in 2008.

Sledge, 48, of Salem, N.H., was sentenced this week in Newburyport District Court by Judge Richard Welch, who said the victim "was drunk as can be" and that Sledge "took advantage of that," as reported by the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune.

A 12-person jury found Sledge guilty of rape and three counts of indecent assault and battery a week ago.

"The sentence is a harsh sentence. The defendant did indeed violate a position of trust," Welch said as he sentenced Sledge to 10 to 12 years in state prison. Welch also sentenced Sledge to five years of probation concurrently on each indecent assault and battery charge after his release from state prison.

Sledge, a police officer for 17 years, raped and repeatedly assaulted the woman in his personal car, a silver Jaguar he parked behind the police station on Sept. 26, 2008. Sledge was assigned to the booking room and repeatedly left his post to go to his car to rape and fondle the woman.

When arrested, he was immediately suspended from the department and stripped of his paycheck once indicted.

He will be required to register as a sex offender, undergo sex offender counseling, pay various fines, and have no contact with the victim, her family or the victim's best friend, Regina Perry, who testified against Sledge during both rape trials. A jury deadlocked in his first trial in September 2010.

"I made the wrong decisions and I apologize to the court," said Sledge, who appeared in court handcuffed and wearing suit pants, a dress shirt and a green tie.

Continue reading "Lawrence Cop Sentenced to 10+ Years in Rape Case" »

The Albany Times-Union reports that an alleged victim of Gary Mercure, a former Roman Catholic priest charged with raping two young altar boys, told a jury Thursday that Mercure would take him into the rectory and have him close his eyes and pray as the priest fondled and abused him.

Mercure, 62, is on trial in Berkshire County Court on three counts of rape of a child with force and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14.
The first of the alleged victims to take the stand was a 35-year-old man from North Creek (NY) who was an altar boy at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Glens Falls when Mercure was stationed there. The man said Mercure started abusing him when he was 7 or 8 years old.

All through the testimony of both alleged victims, Mercure sat calmly and looked straight at them nodding his head 'yes' or shaking his head 'no' at questions by First Assistant District Attorney Paul Caccaviello and responses by the witnesses.
During his opening statements, Caccaviello said one of the victims for years poked holes in his bedroom wall and hid the underwear he wore during the abuse incidents.
''Years later the parents are doing remodeling and find all of their son's underwear stuffed into a wall,'' Caccaviello said.
Jurors looked disturbed by some of the testimony and some leaned forward to get a better look at Mercure's reactions to the witnesses statements.
The second or the victims, now 34 and living in Glens Falls, said he also met Mercure and became an altar boy at the same church when he was 7 or 8 years old.
When he was 9, Mercure took him to a lake to swim and then allegedly attacked him when they got back to the car, he said.
''I was raped,'' the man said. ''He physically had sex with me and hurt me. He said if my parents asked what happened to say I got hurt on the rocks.''
One of the alleged victims said Mercure would touch him while they dressed before Mass.
''He grabbed my penis,'' the man said. ''I did not know what to say. I was confused and scared.''
Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan investigated claims of the two alleged victims and others against Mercure in 2008 but charges could not be brought because the statute of limitations in New York had elapsed. But during her investigation, Hogan learned of separate trips the men made with Mercure to Berkshire County, one victim in 1986 and the other in 1989. Massachusetts law allows charges to be brought against Mercure for those incidents.
One alleged victim said Mercure took him to a trail head in Berkshire County and allegedly raped him in the back seat of the car. The other recalled a ski outing to Brodie Mountain with Mercure when he was also allegedly raped in the back seat.
Mercure's attorney, Michael Jennings of Springfield, urged the jury in his opening arguments to ignore the testimony they will hear regarding incidents in New York.
''Through this all Mr. Mercure has been dragged into the public square and branded a rapist,'' Jennings said. ''You are going to hear evidence that will disturb you, make you angry. You have to push that off to the side and keep an open mind.''
Mercure, who also served in two Troy parishes and at a church in Albany, was permanently suspended from ministry in August 2008, which means he cannot dress as a priest or celebrate Mass. Mercure was not officially defrocked (permanently removed from the priesthood). Only the Vatican can make that decision, officials said.