SALEM – A 43-year old Marblehead man pleaded guilty today to child rape and child pornography charges just as his trial was about to begin in Lawrence Superior Court. Raymond DePaula pleaded guilty to multiple counts of Aggravated Rape of a Child, Posing a child in a state of nudity, Dissemination of Child Pornography, Possession of Child Pornography and Improper Storage of Firearms.
Judge Richard Welch sentenced him to 20-25 year in state prison followed by 10 years of probation with sex offender treatment, GPS monitoring and no unsupervised contact with children under 16.
If the case had gone to trial, Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall would have introduced evidence and testimony that would have proven that the defendant possessed hundreds of pornographic images of children, and disseminated images of him sexually assaulting an 8-year old girl. These images were discovered as a result of an investigation which began in August 2012, which the Department of Homeland Security received information that defendant was in possession of Child Pornography. Federal, state and local police spoke to DePaula at his home in Marblehead where he admitted possessing child pornography and directed them to firearms that were improperly stored. Subsequent investigation revealed DePaula had uploaded images of himself sexually assaulting and posing an eight-year old girl. That child ultimately came forward to describe DePaula’s repeated sexual assaults when she was between the ages of eight and twelve. Judge Welch commented on the now 15 year old young woman’s courage after her comments in court this morning.
“This case is a stark reminder that child pornography is never just a computer crime. Each image depicts a child, like the young woman here, being sexually violated and abused. In this case, the hard work of Department of Homeland Security agents and Marblehead Police rescued one child from further abuse and put her on the path to recovery,†said District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett.
ADA MacDougall thanked Essex Victim Advocate Maria Arroyo-Long, DHS Agents Michael Carvalho and Edward Bradstreet, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Murphy and Marblehead Police Sgts. Sean Brady and Sean Sweeney.
