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A 41-year-old Fall River man who repeatedly raped his girlfriend’s young daughter and her young cousin was sentenced to serve 10 to 15 years in state prison yesterday in Fall River Superior Court, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
Carlos Fernandes pleaded guilty to a multi-count indictment, charging him with rape of a child-aggravated by age, two count of a rape of a child and one count of assault with intent a rape a person under 16 years old.
The defendant was the victim’s mother’s boyfriend at the time of the sexual assaults. The Defendant sexually abused his girlfriend’s daughter, who was between the ages of eight and 10 during the two-year ordeal, and her cousin who was between the ages of 11 – 13. On some occasions, both girls were raped together.
The abuse consisted of forcing the girls to perform oral sex on him, forcing vaginal sex, attempting anal sex and forcing the girls to masturbate him. The assaults occurred during the course of two years, and only came to a stop after one of the victims confided in a friend about the rapes.
The case was prosecuted by Second Assistant District Attorney Silvia Rudman, the Chief of DA Quinn’s Special Victims Unit. The 10 to 15 year state prison term was imposed by Judge Thomas McGuire.
In addition to the state prison sentence, Judge McGuire also placed the defendant on supervised probation for 10 years. The probationary period will begin upon the defendant’s release from prison.
“This is yet another example of a defendant taking advantage of his access to the young victims, and sexually assaulting innocent young children. It is particularly offensive that the mother did not support the her own daughter, which caused one of the victim’s extreme emotional distress,” District Attorney Quinn said. “The defendant deserves the lengthy sentence imposed by the court and will be deported after his sentence is completed.”
