Man found guilty of raping teenage girl at Rockland shelter in 2024

Crime

The man was convicted on one count of child rape aggravated by an age gap of 10 years or more, according to court records.

A man was found guilty Friday of raping a teenage girl in March 2024 at a Rockland hotel that was being used as an emergency shelter for migrants.

Cory Alvarez, 27, was convicted in Plymouth Superior Court on a child rape charge aggravated by a 10-year-age difference, court records showed. Alvarez previously pleaded not guilty to the charge and an additional charge of rape of a child with force, which was later dropped.

Alvarez was initially arrested March 13, 2024 at the Comfort Inn in Rockland after police responded to a report of a sexual assault at the hotel. The 15-year-old victim, who like Alvarez is a migrant from Haiti, was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Gov. Maura Healey later confirmed that Alvarez entered the United States legally under a federal program and went through multiple background checks prior to being admitted to the shelter. Following his arrest, he was required to surrender his passport and have no contact with the victim.

The man was later released on bail in July 2024 “due to the inconsistencies in the evidence and the alleged victim’s version of events, lack of physical evidence, and [because] the surveillance did not support the claim,” his lawyer, Brian Kelley, told The Boston Globe at the time. The following month, he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.

Immigration officials intended to deport Alvarez back to Haiti in October 2024, but the judge paused the proceedings to prevent the case from being halted. However, he imposed a higher bail of $150,000, as Alvarez’s bail was initially $500.

Alvarez’s trial began Sept. 4, with the victim and her father providing witness testimony, the Globe reported. Both witnesses gave their testimony in Haitian Creole, with their answers to the prosecution’s questions being translated into English for the jury.

“When she was talking to me, I started to have tears coming down from my eyes,” the victim’s father testified, according to the Globe. “It was like I lost my self-control. I was upset. And so the other people that were there, they had me sit down to prevent me from doing something.”

After a week-long trial, jurors began deliberations the morning of Sept. 11, according to court records. They returned a guilty verdict at about the same time the next morning.

“The jury has spoken, and we thank them for their time and due diligence in finding Cory Alvarez guilty,” Plymouth District Attorney Tim Cruz said in a statement after the verdict, according to the Globe. “This difficult case has always been about going forward to seek justice on behalf of this child victim.”

Alvarez faces at least 10 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 30. Kelley could not be reached for comment Wednesday evening.