New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
“A 58-year-old former Freetown substitute teacher and Sunday school teacher convicted Monday after a four-day trial of numerous indictments related to the rape and molestation of a 14 year old girl in 2018 will be sentenced in Fall River Superior Court tomorrow morning, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.
A jury of his peers on Monday convicted Gilbert Hernandez of five counts of rape of a child-aggravated by more than a 10 year age difference, two counts of rape of a child by force, four counts of indecent assault and battery, and two counts of dissemination of obscene matter to a child.
The defendant will be sentenced by Judge Raffi Yessayan in Courtroom 7 of the Fall River Superior Court tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
The defendant knew the victim through a close friendship she had with his son, along with his role as a substitute teacher in the Freetown-Lakeville schools and as a Sunday school teacher at a church in Freetown.
The rapes and molestations all occurred between February and July of 2018 in the towns of Freetown, Raynham, Taunton and Lakeville.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Silvia Rudman and Danielle Pixley.
It is expected that the victim and another individual will give impact statements to the judge during tomorrow’s sentencing hearing. We ask any media that does attend the hearing to not identify or photograph the victim in any way.”
