Man convicted of raping teen girl at Mass. migrant shelter where they lived
A Haitian man was convicted Friday of raping a teenage girl at a Rockland hotel that was acting as a migrant shelter in March 2024, court records show.
Cory Alvarez was found guilty of a single count of aggravated rape of a child, 10-year age difference, after a jury trial in Plymouth Superior Court. Jury deliberations began in the case on Thursday, and a verdict was returned Friday morning, records show.
Sentencing for Alvarez is set for Sept. 30. The charge he was convicted of carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.
"The jury has spoken, and we thank them for their time and due diligence in finding Cory Alvarez guilty," said Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz in a statement released following the verdict. "This difficult case has always been about going forward to seek justice on behalf of this child victim. I am grateful that we were able to have this case tried on the merits, and the jury ultimately reached their unanimous conclusion."
The charge against Alvarez came after an incident on March 13, 2024, at a Comfort Inn in Rockland, which was being used at the time as a migrant shelter. That day, a 15-year-old girl told hotel staff she had been raped. Hotel staff subsequently called police.
The girl testified at the first day of Alvarez's trial last week .
" He did something bad to me," the girl, now 17, said through a translator on the witness stand.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony that Alvarez's DNA was found on the girl, Cruz's office said.
Alvarez has been held on a $150,000 bail after a judge increased it from $500 last fall in an attempt to keep him in the country to stand trial. Immigration authorities arrested Alvarez after he initially posted a lower bail last year, but they returned him to state custody as part of an agreement with Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz's Office. He's been in custody ever since.
Alvarez entered the country legally and had undergone two background checks, Kelley previously said in court, citing Gov. Maura Healey's office.
It is not clear how long Alvarez had been living at the hotel and Kelley said he spent time in New York City before arriving in Massachusetts.
Alvarez was in the United States as part of the Biden administration's Humanitarian Parole Program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans Program, the district attorney's office previously said.
On Aug. 13, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Boston Field Office took Alvarez into custody and he's been held in an ICE unit within the Plymouth County House of Corrections since.
More News
Read the original article on MassLive . Add MassLive as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
