27-year-old Somerset man sentenced to prison after raping child he met online

A 27-year-old Somerset man was sentenced to state prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to child rape charges just as his Fall River Superior Court trial was set to begin, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn announced.

Ian Anderson pleaded guilty to indictments charging him with Rape of a Child By Force and Rape of a Child and was sentenced to serve 8 to 12 years.

On or about November 17, 2022, the parents of the 15-year-old victim noticed that she had not been acting like herself for the past two days. They described her as depressed and withdrawn. As a result, they went through her phone and found concerning snapchat messages, which indicated that she had engaged in intercourse with a person later identified as Anderson. The parents took screen shots of the messages and called the police.

The communications between the child and Anderson occurred on Snapchat. He was communicating using the username “Nacho_Medeiros.”

The messages showed that Anderson had engaged in sex with the underage girl and acknowledged knowing she was underage.

The child sat for a forensic interview on November 29, 2022. The child revealed that she met Anderson via a quick add feature on Snapchat, and the two began conversing and made plans to hang out. Before they met, they exchanged photos and their ages. After she knew his age, the victim was less keen on meeting Anderson, but he insisted. The defendant picked the child up from her friend’s house and brought her back to his house. Once at his home he quickly ushered the child into his bedroom and commented that he didn’t want anyone in the house to see them together, and that if anyone asks, she should tell them that she is 19 years old.

Once inside Anderson’s bedroom, he asked the child if she was into older men. He then pushed her down on the bed and tried pulling off her pants. The child told him no, and told him she was uncomfortable. She struggled to keep her pants up as he pulled them down. He ultimately grabbed her wrist so hard that she was forced to let go of the waistband of her pants. She told him he was hurting her. When he was successful in getting her pants down, he raped her. He covered her mouth with his hand and told her to be quiet. The child was crying and again told him to stop and that he was hurting her. The child reported she was hyperventilating but Anderson didn’t seem to care. The child asked him to take her home and he warned her not to tell anyone about this because he could get into serious trouble because of the age difference. The car ride back to her house was silent. When she got to her house she tried to pretend like nothing happened.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Casey Smith and the initial investigation was conducted by Somerset Police Detective Mike Demoranville, who the DA said did a tremendous job assisting in the case in the lead up to the potential trial.

The state prison sentence was imposed by Judge Raffi Yessayan.

“This case highlights the extreme danger of meeting a stranger online. It eventually led to the defendant committing a violent sexual assault against the victim. Fortunately, her family obtained her messages which led to the defendant being arrested,” District Attorney Quinn said. “As jury selection was underway, the defendant even tried to get a witness to lie on his behalf. The sentence was well-deserved, and I hope the victim can move forward with her life.”