BARNSTABLE, Mass. (TCN) — A New Jersey man will spend over a decade behind bars for sexually assaulting an underage family member in Massachusetts.
According to Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois, on Sept. 8, 46-year-old Cheldon Clare was sentenced to 12 to 14 years after a jury found him guilty of aggravated rape of a child and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over. He’ll also have to register as a sex offender.
On Sept. 6, 2021, a 14-year-old girl and her mother reportedly told Barnstable Police that the child had been sexually assaulted by a relative, Clare. Prosecutors said the girl explained that Clare drove from his New Jersey home to the victim’s residence in Massachusetts on Aug. 27, 2021, and sexually assaulted her in his car.
According to the district attorney’s office, investigators “obtained the defendant’s phone records, which revealed that Mr. Clare groomed the victim for a month prior to the assault.” Clare’s phone was reportedly at the victim’s house on the day of the assault, and investigators discovered his DNA on the girl’s pants.
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