Child molester sentenced to prison in Fall River Superior Court

A 30-year-old man who molested a teenaged female relative for about a year was sentenced last month to serve five to seven years in state prison, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Jeremy Rocha of Attleboro pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court to indictments charging him with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person under 14 years of age, one count of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older and one counts of trafficking of a person under 18 for sexual servitude.

During a period of time between September of 2019 and July of 2020 defendant would molest the victim by rubbing his front pelvic area against her backside and would also touch her breasts. When the victim, who was 13 and 14 years old at the times of the molestation incidents, expressed displeasure with these acts, the defendant would give her money, buy her things and let her use his Amazon account to make purchases. The defendant admitted to the actions and acknowledged spending in excess of $5,000.00 on the victim.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Natasha Azevedo and the state prison sentence was imposed by Judge Raffi Yessayan. In ​addition to the state prison sentence, the defendant was also placed on supervised probation for an additional five years. The terms of his probation include registering as a sex offender, sex offender counseling and no unsupervised contact with children.

“The defendant betrayed the trust the victim placed in him by repeatedly molesting her. He even gave her money and gifts so she would not reveal the abuse. Fortunately she did. The sentence holds the defendant accountable for this very disturbing and offensive conduct,” District Attorney Quinn said.