A Cape Cod man was recently arrested and charged with several Massachusetts Sex Crimes Charges for allegedly sexually assault a 9 year old girl.
The defendant, a chiropractor from Hyannis, Massachusetts, was arraigned in Barnstable District Court this past Monday on sex crimes charges including Rape of a Child and Indecent Assault & Battery on a Child Under 14.
According to county prosecutors, the defendant, 58 years old, alleged assaulted the 9 year old at a home in Yarmouth in November. It is alleged that the man’s girlfriend was watching the child but was in another room at the time.
Prosecutors alleged that the alleged sexual assault came to light when the child reportedly told her mother that the man touched her on her chest and beneath her underwear.
The Massachusetts Sex Crime of Rape of a Child is punishable with imprisonment for any term of year up to life. As with all sex crimes, a conviction for this offense would subject the defendant to Sex Offender Registration, and also require him to submit his DNA to the state’s DNA database.
Although the public instinctively attributes 100% credibility to the victim in a child rape case, the statistics in these types of cases are alarming in that a percentage of cases are often ‘unfounded’.
There are not many studies or statistics that precisely attribute a percentage of false allegations of rape, though the FBI over the years has set 8% – 15% as the average rate of false accusations. Another independent study that was conducted using data between 1978 and 1987 found that 41% of all forcible rape complaints were false; and another study conducted in the midwest over a 3 year period found that approximately 50% of rape complaints were false.
Unfortunately, despite the statistics and even if sex crimes cases get dropped, the effect on the person’s life is everlasting. The person will inevitably suffer a damaged reputation between family, friends, and business relations. Even if a person was truly falsely accused and the prosecutor acknowledged as such and dropped the case, the defendant’s reputation may have been harmed beyond repair. This is so because of the perception that the person’s case was dropped because the victim was perhaps pressured; or the defendant had a good lawyer, etc.
Guilty or Not Guilty, the effects of being charged with a Massachusetts Sex Crime are devastating…
Boston Criminal Lawyer Lefteris K. Travayiakis has successfully defended persons charged with Massachusetts Sex Crimes, including Rape, and is available 24/7 for consultation.
To schedule a Free Consultation, Click Here to Contact a Massachusetts Sex Crimes Lawyer or call 617-325-9500.