Parole denied for Mass. man convicted of raping woman at knifepoint in 1986

Yahoo

04-08-2025

Editor's note: This story contains a description of rape.
A 70-year-old man convicted of raping a woman at knifepoint nearly four decades ago in New Bedford was denied parole this week following his first appearance before the parole board.
The board found he hadn't taken responsibility for his crimes.
Steven Correia was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after being convicted of aggravated rape in 1990 for the rape four years earlier. He was also convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to eight to 10 years to run concurrently with the life sentence.
On Feb. 12, 1986, around midnight, a woman pulled into a parking space near her grandmother's apartment in New Bedford. As she opened the car door, a man carrying a knife approached her. The man, later identified as Correia, forced his way into the car and held the knife to the woman's throat while grabbing her hair.
Correia ordered her to start the car and drive down Highland Street, telling her to park near the overpass. He made her turn the car off and get in the passenger seat, at which point he pushed up the driver's seat and ordered her into the back.
The woman pleaded with Correia, but he told her to take off her clothes. Correia then raped her. After the rape, Correia threw the woman's clothes at her and she got dressed. Correia drove the car back to the woman's grandmother's apartment building, and told her he would kill her grandmother if she reported the rape.
Correia got out of the car and told the woman to drive away, which she did. The woman quickly found a police officer and reported the rape. Correia was arrested the next day near the scene of the rape, and the woman identified him in a lineup, pointing out some of the clothes he was wearing.
In its decision, the board said the 70-year-old Correia did not appear forthright and honest before the board. Correia maintains his innocence of the underlying conviction and of other convictions in sexual assault crimes, despite incriminating testing after his conviction.
Correia had escaped from prison from an earlier incarceration when the 1986 rape occurred, the board noted. He has spent more than four decades behind bars.
While board members acknowledged some of Correia's achievements, including getting a bachelor's degree from Boston University and participating in multiple committees. But the board encouraged Correia to do more, like enrolling in the Sex Offender Treatment Program.
Correia's family and a friend testified in support of parole, while a Bristol County prosecutor testified in opposition.
'The Board concludes by unanimous decision that Steven Correia has not demonstrated a level of rehabilitation that would make his release compatible with the welfare of society,' the decision reads.
Correia's next hearing before the board is in four years.
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Read the original article on MassLive.