The Bristol County DA is advocating for harder penalties for anybody who supervises and sexually assaults a baby after a choose despatched a former faculty paraprofessional to jail for indecently touching a 15-year-old scholar.
Fall River Superior Decide Susan Sullivan has sentenced Matthew Paris, 34, to two-and-a-half years within the Home of Correction, to be adopted by three years of supervised probation.
The sentencing on Monday got here after a jury convicted Paris on two counts of indecent assault and battery on an individual over the age of 14, in reference to an incident in 2020 as a paraprofessional at Southeastern Regional Excessive College in Easton.
The jury acquitted Paris of rape expenses in opposition to a second scholar.
Paris has additionally been ordered to register as a intercourse offender and put on a GPS bracelet, whereas being banned from employment that might put him in common contact with minors beneath 16.
Indecent assault and battery on an individual over the age of 14 carries a most sentence of 5 years in state jail. The Bristol County District Legal professional really useful Paris be sentenced to 2 to 4 years, adopted by probation.
“This defendant took advantage of his position of authority as a para-professional to sexually assault the victim, who was a student in one of his classes,” DA Thomas M. Quinn III stated of Paris in a press release. “The defendant deserves to serve time and register as a sex offender.”
Quinn stated he’s pushing for “increased penalties for anyone in a position of trust who supervises a child and indecently assaults them.”
A 15-year-old feminine scholar at Southeastern Regional reported in March 2020 that Paris, then a 29-year-old paraprofessional in her store class, had sexually assaulted her a month prior.
The sufferer began receiving messages on Instagram that February, indicating Paris discovered the scholar enticing as he made sexual feedback. The paraprofessional instructed the sufferer to delete the entire messages.
The 2 met in East Bridgewater throughout February faculty trip, with Paris bringing the scholar to the again of a cemetery, in a “remote location,” the place he “indecently touched the victim without her consent,” in response to Quinn’s workplace.
“During this encounter,” the workplace stated in a launch, “the victim connected via a video call with a friend, who was able to observe the victim and defendant together.”
In his assertion, Quinn pointed to laws pending on the State Home that might criminalize sexual abuse by faculty workers and different adults in positions of authority, closing the “age of consent loophole.”
People who supervise minors have been offered authorized safety in the event that they interact in sexual relations with college students between the ages of 16 and 18.
Consent would additionally not be a protection.
Quinn stated, “These statutory changes are necessary to hold those individuals accountable who sexually assault children they have supervision of.”
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