Bristol County DA Quinn: Man convicted in Fall River court of sexually molesting children of 2 girlfriends thousands of times

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn, III has announced that a 51-year-old man was convicted after a jury trial in the Fall River Superior Court of Forcible Rape of a Child (3 counts), Aggravated Rape of Child by Age (2 counts) and Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child Under 14 (2 counts).

Richard Cruz, of New Bedford was sentenced by the Honorable Susan Sullivan to a State Prison sentence of 40-50 years. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Casey Smith and Silvia Rudman.

At trial, two female victims testified that they were repeatedly sexually molested and raped by the defendant.  One victim testified to countless incidents between the years of 2000 and 2008 when the victim’s mother was at work and she was in the custody of Cruz.  The victim was between the ages of 7 and 14.  The second victim also testified at trial to many numerous incidents of rape and sexual molestation by the defendant between the years of 2015 and 2019 when she was between the ages of 8 to 11.  The assaults also occurred when the victim’s mother was at work, and Cruz had custody and access to the child.  Both victims recounted how, on numerous occasions, they were shown pornography by the defendant, were forced to perform sex acts on him and were raped and sexually assaulted by him.  Cruz was in a relationship with the respective victim’s mothers during the years of offense, which is how he had access to the victims. 

“The defendant molested the two young victims several thousand times which is beyond comprehension. This conduct is depraved and extremely disturbing.  I commend the victims for their courage and perseverance during the seven plus years that the case was pending.  The defendant had 7 different lawyers during the case, which is disgraceful.  The lengthy sentence which was recommended by my office and imposed by the court was necessary and well deserved for this atrocious conduct,” District Attorney Tom Quinn said.