Accused Marblehead rapist gets bail reduced to $10G
SALEM - Bail for an 18-year-old Marblehead teenager charged with raping three eighth-grade girls was reduced Friday morning in Salem Superior Court to $10,000 cash.
Joshua Rodriguez, of 29 Bennett Road, Marblehead, petitioned the higher court for a reduction of the $15,000 cash ordered earlier in Lynn District Court.
Salem Superior Court Judge Paul A. Chernoff reduced that bail to $10,000, despite strong objections from Assistant District Attorney Meg Morrison that the cash bail amount set earlier in District Court stay the same, telling him the facts are "serious" and there are multiple victims.
The charges relate to the sexual abuse of three Marblehead teens who are 14 and 15 years old. The incidents were all reported in February, police said.
One of the 14-year-olds told authorities that Rodriguez came to a sleepover where she was last Dec. 23 and Rodriguez dragged her into a bedroom and raped her.
Another girl said she was raped Feb. 4 in a car parked on Round House Road.
The 15-year-old said she went to a movie during Christmas vacation with a group which included Rodriguez. After the movie they smoked marijuana and she passed out only to wake up and find Rodriguez inappropriately fondling her.
She told police about the sexual assault after the girl's mother reported her missing after leaving a suicide note that referred to Rodriguez.
Police located her in the organ loft of the Old North Church.
In her pitch for a reduction of the high bail amount, defense lawyer Sierra Rosen argued to Chernoff that the charges were issued "without investigation."
She questioned each incident, the date reported as well as the description of the vehicle in which one of the girls said she was raped.
Sierra pleaded for Chernoff to lower the bail to $5,000 on all three cases, but the judge declined.
In lowering the bail, Chernoff ordered that if Rodriguez makes bail he is to be placed on house arrest, monitored by an electronic bracelet and is to have no contact with any complaining witness or their family until the cases are resolved.
Rodriguez was taken back to the Middleton Jail. It is not known if he will make the bail.
Rodriguez is due back in Lynn District Court on April 28.
http://www.itemlive.com/articles/2009/04/04/news/news05.txt
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