Massachusetts man sentenced to serve 12 years in state prison for child molestation

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Attorney General Peter F. Neronha announced that a Massachusetts man was sentenced in Providence County Superior Court to serve 12 years at the Adult Correctional Institutions after pleading to molesting a female victim in 2017 at a residence in Providence.

40-year-old Wilton Rodriguez of Haverhill, MA, pleaded nolo contendere to two counts of first-degree child molestation.

At a hearing on April 26, before Superior Court Justice Maureen B. Keough, the court sentenced Rodriguez to 25 years at the ACI with 12 years to serve and the balance of the sentence suspended with probation. Rodriguez was ordered by the court to register as a sex offender, complete sex offender counseling, and is subject to community supervision. The court also issued a no contact order between Rodriguez and his victim.

“Even following a conviction, we recognize that this Office’s efforts to achieve justice in a case where a ‘trusted’ adult sexually exploits a young child can only go so far,” said Attorney General Neronha. “The lasting harm inflicted upon victims and their families by the reprehensible criminal conduct of perpetrators like that of the defendant here causes irreparable damage. I am grateful to the victim and her family for the strength they have exhibited in coming forward and seeing this case through to the end.”

Had the case proceeded to trial, the state was prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that between January 1, 2017 and December 1, 2017, Rodriguez sexually assaulted a female victim under the age of 14, who was known to him, multiple times during that span of time.

“This is one of many incidents where a juvenile is victimized by a trusted adult, causing severe trauma to both the victim and the victim’s family,” said Providence Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Paré. “I commend the victim for coming forward. I also thank the Providence Police Department Special Victims Unit for its investigation into this incident and the Attorney General’s Office for prosecuting this case, which resulted in removing the defendant from our streets and preventing him from causing harm to additional innocent victims.”

Assistant Attorney General Ania Zielinski and Special Assistant Attorney General Alison Bittl of the Office of the Attorney General and Detectives Dwight Eddy and Jeff Richards of the Providence Police Department led the investigation and prosecution of the case.