Boston Sexual Abuse Lawyer Blog

A Massachusetts grand jury has indicted a convicted murderer in the beating death of another inmate who was nearing the end of his sentence on a sexual abuse conviction.

Christopher Fletcher was indicted last week by a Norfolk County grand jury in the Dec. 12 death of Richard Silva at the state prison in Norfolk. The 64-year-old Silva was convicted in 2003 of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14. He was scheduled to be released in March.

The 50-year-old Fletcher is currently serving a life sentence for the 1995 rape and murder of Elizabeth Salsbury of Lunenburg. Last month, Fletcher was indicted in the 1986 killing of Peggy Sue Calvillo, a mother of two from Sterling.

The Boston Globe reports that New England Conservatory officials said they have received no complaints from students or alumni about a convicted sex offender hired by renowned conductor Benjamin Zander to make videos over the past decade.

Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for the conservatory, would not confirm that Zander had been fired, but she said in a phone interview that his departure was warranted.
Zander believed Peter Benjamin was remorseful and determined to turn his life around.

Zander was one of numerous faculty members who used the services of Peter E. Benjamin, 68, but he was the only one to admit knowledge of the videographer's crimes. Zander has said he was fired after refusing to resign.

"His decision showed poor judgment,'' Schwartzman said. "The conservatory had no choice but to take the action it took.''

Benjamin spent five years in prison during the 1990s after pleading guilty to charges of rape and sex abuse. His case included allegations that he secretly videotaped himself having sex with three teenage boys.

Zander, 72, the revered conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and faculty member for the past 45 years, left a deep imprint on the thousands of students he inspired with rousing talks and exacting standards over more than four decades at the New England Conservatory, leaving many dismayed that he left on such a discordant note.

Schwartzman acknowledged during the weekend that the institution did not follow its own policies to protect children. She said that in November 2010 the school began screening its vendors for criminal backgrounds, not just staff and volunteers, which they had previously done to comply with state law. They did not check Benjamin's background, however.

Last week, school officials sent e-mails to some 6,500 current and former students and their families, explaining that they learned in mid-December that a videographer on campus was a convicted sex offender.

During the weekend, Zander sent a letter to his youth orchestra telling them he preferred to stay in a job he adored. He told them he knew Benjamin's crimes were of a "sexual nature,'' but he said he did not know details.

New England Conservatory officials yesterday said they have received no complaints from students or alumni about a convicted sex offender hired by renowned conductor Benjamin Zander to make videos over the past decade, and they defended the decision to cut ties with him last week.

Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for the conservatory, would not confirm that Zander had been fired, but she said in a phone interview that his departure was warranted.
Zander believed Peter Benjamin (above) was profoundly remorseful and determined to turn his life around.

WBZTV

Zander believed Peter Benjamin (above) was profoundly remorseful and determined to turn his life around.

"There might be some who think that certain people in an organization can be held to a different standard, because of their prominence or because of the number of years they have been affiliated or because of their role or because of the degree to which they are revered,'' Schwartzman said. "But when an institution is presented with information that a senior faculty member has made a decision without consulting anyone else about bringing a sex offender on a campus that serves children, the organization has no choice but to take strong disciplinary measures.''

Zander was one of numerous faculty members who used the services of Peter E. Benjamin, 68, but he was the only one to admit knowledge of the videographer's crimes. Zander has said he was fired after refusing to resign.

"His decision showed poor judgment,'' Schwartzman said. "The conservatory had no choice but to take the action it took.''

Benjamin spent five years in prison during the 1990s after pleading guilty to charges of rape and sex abuse. His case included allegations that he secretly videotaped himself having sex with three teenage boys.

Zander, 72, the revered conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and faculty member for the past 45 years, left a deep imprint on the thousands of students he inspired with rousing talks and exacting standards over more than four decades at the New England Conservatory, leaving many dismayed that he left on such a discordant note.

But in interviews on and off campus yesterday, students and their parents had mixed feelings about Zander's departure.

"Sometimes he does things that annoy people, but like a lot of students, I think [Zander] is a very, very, very great person,'' said Rafael Horowitz Friedman, 19, a freshman oboist. "I can see why the administration thought he used poor judgment. But is this the way to treat someone who had such a huge impact for so many years?''

While dropping his son off at the school, Bill McShane said he thought the administration responded in a "knee-jerk fashion.''

"You get the sense that the administration was reacting to national concerns,'' he said. "At the very least, I think Zander had the responsibility to inform the conservatory that he was employing a sex offender. But I still don't think I would have fired someone who has been there for so long and done so much good.''

"It seems unfair to me,'' said his son, Billy McShane, 19, a sophomore.

Others said the school, which could be held legally accountable for any crimes committed on campus, had no choice.

"Zander has been really great for the conservatory, and I think he's a fantastic musician,'' said Vani Jagannathan of Southborough, who has a son and daughter in the conservatory's youth program. "As a parent, my first obligation is to my child. If the university administration thinks they made the right decision, I support them.''

Schwartzman acknowledged during the weekend that the institution did not follow its own policies to protect children. She said that in November 2010 the school began screening its vendors for criminal backgrounds, not just staff and volunteers, which they had previously done to comply with state law. They did not check Benjamin's background, however.

Last week, school officials sent e-mails to some 6,500 current and former students and their families, explaining that they learned in mid-December that a videographer on campus was a convicted sex offender.

During the weekend, Zander sent a letter to his youth orchestra telling them he preferred to stay in a job he adored. He told them he knew Benjamin's crimes were of a "sexual nature,'' but he said he did not know details.

He also told students he thought his removal had been influenced by other events, including previous disagreements with conservatory president Tony Woodcock.

"I felt it was the right thing at the time to give this man a chance,'' Zander wrote. "I deeply regret the upset I have brought to you all inadvertently as a result of the way this has all played out.''

Keene NH police said a woman pleaded guilty in Keene District Court to making a false report to law enforcement, and will serve one year in jail.

Police said Kerry Touzin, 38, made a false report of rape on May 27. Police said Touzin claimed that she had met a man from Massachusetts on a website called Plenty of Fish and arranged to meet him for a date. Authorities said Touzin reported that when she got into the man's vehicle, he drove her to a dead-end street in Keene where he sexually assaulted her.

Keene detectives said they developed an online persona of a middle-aged woman, made contact with the man Touzin accused of sexual assault and arranged to meet him in Walpole on June 8. Police said when the man arrived at the meeting place, he was taken into custody without incident and charged with aggravated felonious sexual assault.

While the man was in custody, police said he cooperated with detectives and an investigation revealed that he did not engage in any illegal acts. Police said further evidence revealed that Touzin made a false report to police and she was arrested on June 16.

After pleading guilty in court , Touzin was sentenced to 360 days in the Cheshire County House of Corrections.

The Idaho Mountain Express reports that Leo Robert Schofield Sr., 69, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty earlier to sexually abusing a child family member.

Schofield Sr. will be required to spend four years in prison before parole eligibility. He was given credit for eight months spent in jail following his arrest in November 2010.

In a type of plea agreement referred to as an "Alford plea," Schofield pleaded guilty in April to sexual abuse of a child under 16, a crime punishable in Idaho by up to 25 years in prison. He was originally charged with a more serious crime of lewd conduct with a minor child, an offense punishable by up to life prison.
Under the Alford plea, Schofield did not admit to committing a crime, but acknowledged that there was likely sufficient evidence for a conviction. The plea agreement further specified that if Elgee did not follow the joint sentencing recommendation, the guilty plea could be withdrawn.

Schofield was charged with committing the sex crime against the child sometime between 2006 and 2009. Court records identify the girl as a family member.

At sentencing, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Fredback said Schofield deserves to go to prison because he has a "high risk to re-offend" and a "long history of denial."
Fredback noted that Schofield has a 1987 felony conviction in Rhode Island for sex acts against a 9-year-old child and is currently wanted in Massachusetts on a warrant charging him with a sex crime there.

Apparently, the state of Massachusetts has not yet attempted to have Schofield extradited.

George H. Lunt, 27, of Plymouth, Mass, has been sentenced to 8 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release for his transportation and possession of child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz for the District of Massachusetts and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Field Office.

Lunt was sentenced by United States District Judge George A. O'Toole Jr in Boston.

On March 15, 2011, Lunt pleaded guilty to two counts of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. In pleading guilty, Lunt admitted to possessing thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse, including depictions of prepubescent children and toddlers and sadistic conduct. Lunt admitted to distributing graphic depictions of child sexual abuse through online peer-to-peer file-sharing software.

The case arose from an FBI investigation of individuals sharing and trading child pornography over the Internet. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, see www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Former state Sen. Joseph "Jim" Marzilli is out of jail, outfitted with a GPS monitor, two months after pleading guilty to sexually-laden incidents in Lowell, reports the Boston Herald.

Marzilli, who declined to comment to the Herald when reached at his Arlington home, was released from the Billerica House of Correction on April 29 even though he was sentenced to three months behind bars on Feb. 21 for a 2008 spree during which he accosted four women over a four-hour period.

Marzilli must complete five years of probation along with sex offender treatment and other therapy, according to the Probation Department. He will not have to register as a sex offender. Marzilli has to wear the GPS device for one year, and must stay away from his victims.

He also will pay roughly $3,000 in victim's assistance, GPS upkeep and probation department fees and complete 200 hours of community service.

Douglas L. Wright, 41, of North Chelmsford, Mass ., was sentenced to five years in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release for transportation and possession of child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen M. Ortiz, and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Field Office.

Wright was sentenced this week by United States District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro in Boston. On February 17, 2011, Wright pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. In pleading guilty, Wright admitted to using an online, peer-to-peer file sharing program to transmit computer files containing visual depictions of prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Wright, a former middle school teacher, also admitted to being interested in child pornography for several years.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

A Boston doctor avoided going to trial by admitting to a judge yesterday that he traveled to Alaska in 2009 with the intention of having sex with a 6-year-old boy. The Associated Press reports that John Mark Felton, a 47-year-old research physician, was to be tried Monday in US District Court in Anchorage. He decided instead to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement.

Felton had pled guilty to traveling to Anchorage on Nov. 16, 2009, to engage in illicit sexual conduct. At sentencing on Sept. 13, he is expected to receive between 20 and 30 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Felton was in a child-sex chat room on Feb. 28, 2008, when he began conversing with a man who he believed was offering his young grandson for sex. He told the man, who was actually an undercover agent with the US Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that he would travel to Alaska to have sex with the boy.

When Felton was arrested at the Anchorage airport, he had a Spiderman child's costume.

The AP reports that Felton -- who at the time lived in a luxury condominium in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood and was vice president of clinical operations at a vaccine development company in Cambridge, Mass. -- waited nearly a year and a half before reaching out to the man again. The trip was planned in e-mails over the next few weeks.

Felton, who at times trembled in his chair while seated next to his lawyer, was asked during the change-of-plea hearing if the facts of the government's case against him were true.

"Ah, yes,'' he told US District Court Judge Ralph Beistline.

Felton, a British national who moved to Boston in 2008, will have to register as a sex offender and will be deported when he is released from prison.

The New York Daily News reports that disgraced former Christ the King hoops coach Bob Oliva will plead guilty April 4 to sexual abuse, after spending several years trying to fend off sex-abuse allegations by claiming he is the target of a conspiracy to destroy his reputation.

Oliva pleaded not guilty to rape of a child, a charge with a maximum sentence of life in prison, when he appeared in a Boston courtroom last spring after he was indicted by a grand jury in March 2010. But when Oliva appears in court in Boston on April 4, he apparently will plead guilty and acknowledge that he sexually abused a boy during a trip to Massachusetts when the kid was 14.

The Daily News reports that the plea agreement with Oliva may keep the former coach out of prison. Oliva will have to acknowledge in court that he sexually abused the boy during a trip to Massachusetts. He will also probably have to register as a sex offender, report to a probation officer, attend counseling, give up coaching youth sports and stay away from children in exchange for avoiding prison.

William F. Murphy, 51, of West Roxbury, Mass., has been sentenced to 10 years in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release for a child pornography offense, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Boston Field Office.

Murphy was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf in the District of Massachusetts.

On Aug. 13, 2010, Murphy pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly accessing child pornography with intent to view. This case arose from an FBI investigation of Murphy's use of online peer-to-peer software to access and view visual depictions of minor females engaging in sexually explicit conduct. These images included depictions of prepubescent girls, and sadistic and masochistic conduct.

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" »

A former Holyoke, Massachusetts school teacher who ran off with a male student and pleaded guilty to statutory rape charges was given probation yesterday by a judge who said he does not see her as a sexual predator.

Lisa Lavoie, a 25-year-old former teacher at Maurice Donahue Elementary School in Holyoke, was charged in 2009 after she and a 15-year-old boy were reported missing and found a week later in a motel in Morgantown, W.Va. She pleaded guilty last month to three counts of statutory rape and one count of enticement of a child under the age of 16.

Prosecutors asked Judge Cornelius Moriarty to sentence Lavoie to three to five years in state prison.

But Moriarty, saying he does not think Lavoie will reoffend, spared her jail time and sentenced her instead to five years of probation.

"There are those who perhaps will say this sentence is too lenient,'' Moriarty said, as reported by the Associated Press. "This too shall pass,'' he told Lavoie.

Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni did not immediately return calls from the AP seeking comment on the sentence.

Moriarty said Lavoie's conduct was "seriously exacerbated by the fact that she was a teacher.''

He said that in most cases involving adults having sexual relations with children it is an adult male and the motivation is more likely to be sexual gratification.

"But I find this is not the case,'' he said. "In fact it's quite the contrary.''

Moriarty said he thinks Lavoie's "interest and concern for [the boy's] emotional well-being was what originally began this episode,'' which he said "was originally well-intended.''

He said it appears Lavoie's kindness toward the boy was what led to his sexual interest in her.

As part of her probation, the judge ordered her not to have any contact with the boy or his immediate family.

Prosecutors asked Moriarty to also order Lavoie to not have any unsupervised contact with children under 16.

The judge rejected that request, saying, "I don't find this young lady to be a sexual predator.''

The judge ordered Lavoie to complete an alcohol rehabilitation program.

Last month, Lavoie's bail was revoked after she violated a pre-sentence probation condition of no alcohol.

Her lawyer said Lavoie accepts responsibility and does not excuse what she did.

The Berkshire Eagle reports that Anthony Austin, 37, was sentenced last week to state prison after pleading guilty in Berkshire Superior Court to three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under age 14. The admission came after lawyers for the prosecution and defense reached a plea agreement.

Austin received a 10- to 14-year sentence for three counts of the felony charge, according to Frederick A. Lantz, a spokesman for Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless.

Austin was convicted of similar crimes in Worcester Superior Court in 1999.

In Pittsfield, the boy's father praised Berkshire Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ford for handing down the tough sentence, but thought it could have been even harsher.

Authorities said Austin came to know his young victim through an adult friend of the boy's family.

In the 1999 case in Worcester, Austin was convicted of crimes that included one count of rape and abuse of a child, one count of assaulting a child with intent to commit rape, and five counts of indecent assault and battery of a child less than age 14.

Austin was a Level 3 sex offender at the time of the Pittsfield assault, according to the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board. A Level 3 designation is the most severe category, meaning Austin was at "high risk" of re-offending.

"We did get somebody dangerous off the streets," the boy's father said, referring to Austin as a "sexual predator."

The Boston Globe reports that a former Chelsea District Court clerk magistrate has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for coercing two women into having sex with him at the courthouse.

"He took my dignity,'' one of the victims told the judge just before James M. Burke, 43, of Chelsea, was sentenced. "He took advantage of me when I was in a vulnerable state in my life.''

Burke, who was fired from his $84,000-a-year job after his arrest last year, was convicted by a federal jury in October of two counts of depriving the women of their civil rights.

One of the women testified at the trial that Burke pulled her from the courthouse lockup after her arrest on a prostitution charge in 2005 and brought her to an empty courtroom, where she performed sex on him in exchange for his promise to get her case dismissed. The case still went forward. The other woman said Burke threatened to lock her up last year unless she had sex with him at the courthouse.

US District Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. said Burke used his position to prey on vulnerable women, adding, "It is worse when the abuse of power occurs in the judicial branch.''

The judge ordered Burke to report to prison Jan. 14.

Burke declined to comment during the hearing, but his lawyer, Robert Sheketoff, said Burke would "roam the streets'' seeking prostitutes for sexual satisfaction and "in some ways the courthouse became a safe haven to do what he did.''

He added that Burke was not responsible for the long tradition of prostitution and that the victims "bear some responsibility, too. They bear some responsibility for their lives.''

But Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly said it was "ludicrous'' to blame the victims. He said, "They are in court trying to clear up a case and he ends up sexually assaulting them. All of the blame should be placed on the defendant.''

The highest court in Massachusetts says homeless sex offenders should not be punished for being unable to keep their GPS monitoring devices charged.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday in the case of John Canadyan Jr., a homeless man who was sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.

After his release, Canadyan was ordered to wear a GPS device. But a judge found that Canadyan had violated his probation by not doing enough to find a job that, in turn, would allow him to secure housing and have access to an electrical outlet for charging the device.

The SJC ruled that that the lower court's finding that Canadyan had violated the terms of his probation was "akin to punishing the defendant for being homeless" because he did not have access to a power outlet.