According to an article in today’s Lowell Sun, Thomas Hutchinson has been indicted by a Middlesex County Grand Jury on multiple Massachusetts Sex Crimes. The former Billerica, Massachusetts man was arrested this past July and initially charged in the Somerville District Court. It is alleged that Hutchinson pretended to work in the modeling field and that he would contact females through the internet. One girl sent him photographs and videotapes of herself in the nude. Hutchinson then threatened to post the nude images and videos live if the girl did not have sex with him. Hutchinson’s home and car were searched by police from Tewksbury and Medford. The Search revealed Child Pornography images, chats with apparently underage girls and additional evidence of sex crimes. Now Hutchinson is facing charges of Rape of a Child, Indecent Assault and Battery, Attempted Extortion, Child Enticement, Assault with the Intent to Rape and Possession of Child Pornography. The case will be prosecuted in the Superior Court in Woburn, Massachusetts.
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Massachusetts Sex Crimes Defense Lawyer
Child Enticement in Massachusetts is a felony. The law proscribing this behavior is Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 26C. The law states that anyone who entices someone under the age of sixteen to enter or leave a building or vehicle with the intent to commit one of several enumerated crimes is guilty of Child Enticement. A violation of this law and a conviction for that violation subjects the defendant to five years in state prison. The word entice can mean lure, solicit, invite, persuade, coax or induce. There is an interesting aspect to this law. There is no requirement that the person enticed be a real person. Thus, there is no defense of factual impossibility. The clear intent of this law is to catch and prosecute people who victimize children and to deter this type of behavior.
Attempted Extortion in Massachusetts is a crime pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265 Section 25. That law makes it a crime to threaten to accuse someone of a crime or to use power or authority to extort money or a monetary advantage from someone. This crime is also a felony and is punishable by up to fifteen years in state prison.
The two crimes discussed above might just be the least of Hutchinson’s worries. The Rape of a Child and the Possession of Child Pornography cases are perhaps the most serious allegations in this case. While the Rape allegation is not detailed in the Lowell Sun article I surmise from the context of this indictment that the girl “agreed” to having sex with Hutchinson to avoid the publishing of the nude photos and videos. In a legal sense this constitutes “force”. What just might save Hutchinson from an extremely lengthy sentence would be his age. He is nineteen, not much older than the victim.
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