Mass. man says he molested girl

Nashua Telegraph
Mass. man says he molested girl
By ANDREW WOLFE Staff Writer awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com
NASHUA – A Massachusetts man opted to admit to molesting a Hollis girl rather than face a third trial, which both he and the victim were eager to avoid, the prosecutor said Thursday.Christopher Blanchette, 34, of Tyngsborough, Mass., admitted to a single count of aggravated felonious sexual assault and was sentenced to 3-1/2 to seven years in prison, to remain deferred and then suspended so long as he stays out of trouble, Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Kent Smith said.Blanchette previously was sentenced to 10-20 years in prison after he was convicted at his second trial in Hillsborough County Superior Court last year. His first trial ended with the jury deadlocked, evenly split between conviction and acquittal.A judge reversed Blanchette's conviction, however, after investigators with the state Division of Children Youth and Families turned up additional information about the victim's alleged sexual activities around the time she first disclosed the alleged assaults. Judge William Groff found that the new information was relevant and could potentially sway jurors, because Blanchette's defense revolved largely around the girl's credibility.Blanchette was one of two men convicted of sexually abusing the same girl in otherwise unrelated cases. The other man pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in 2006.The girl recently started her first year at the University of New Hampshire and was reluctant to go through a third trial and testify against Blanchette yet again, Smith said. The young woman overcame challenges, including the sexual assaults and a drug-abusing parent, and made it into college but "really didn't want to do another trial," Smith said. Blanchette had also testified in his two previous trials and denied molesting the girl. On Thursday, he admitted that he had, in fact, done so. As part of the plea bargain, Smith said he agreed that he wouldn't prosecute Blanchette for perjury."If he was willing to admit it, I was willing to forgive and forget," Smith said.Blanchette previously served nine months in prison before his conviction was overturned, Smith said. He will be required to register with police as a sex offender and undergo treatment and counseling as part of the plea bargain, Smith said.Blanchette was accused of molesting the girl about five nights a week for more than a year in 2000 and 2001, when she was around 10 and 11 years old and living with relatives in Hollis because of her mother's drug addiction, prosecutors have said previously. The girl testified Blanchette repeatedly came into the room and molested her after she'd gone to bed, and police found semen on the carpet beside the girl's bed, which DNA tests matched to Blanchette.Blanchette and his lawyer argued the girl made up the allegations because she hoped to get out of the house and move back in with her mother, however. The girl had first disclosed the alleged abuse when she was 13, while police were investigating alleged assaults by the other man.
Andrew Wolfe can be reached at 594-6410 or awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com
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