Western Mass. man sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison for raping 3-year-old
Austin Miller-Robinson, 29, was found guilty on June 4 of aggravated rape of a child with force and rape and abuse of a child aggravated by age difference.
'This is an important victory for the children and citizens of Berkshire County,' Shugrue said in a statement from his office. 'I will always advocate for the strongest possible penalties under the law for anyone who harms our children.'
Shugrue had previously requested the maximum sentence, according to a statement from his office.
'While the sentence is less than my request, and the criminal penalties are to be served concurrently, the 18-to-20-year sentence is substantial,' Shugrue said in the statement. 'Today is a good day for the children in the Berkshires.'
When he was 23, Miller-Robinson assaulted the child on July 4, 2019, Shugrue's office said previously.
River Valley Co-op Strawberry Ice Cream Social to aid Center for New Americans
'I killed two people': Witness reports abrupt confession from woman who crashed into trooper, causing serious injuries
A Juneteenth tribute to Afro-Caribbean traditions in art, dance in Holyoke; plus an events listing
UMass, MIT team tune up WMass bridge with new 3D-printing tech
Read the original article on MassLive.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
15 hours ago
- Associated Press
US grand jury indicts one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders and one of his friends
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal grand jury has indicted one of Haiti's most powerful gang leaders and a U.S. citizen accused of conspiring with him to violate U.S. sanctions and fund gang activities in the troubled Caribbean country, the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday. Jimmy Chérizier, best known as 'Barbecue,' is a leader of a gang federation called Viv Ansanm that the U.S. designated as a foreign terrorist organization in May. Chérizier lives in Haiti, and the U.S. is offering up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Chris Landberg, a senior U.S. State Department official, said Chérizier's 'reign of terror and mass violence against Haiti must end.' But Jake Johnston, author of 'Aid State' and international research director at the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, questioned the government's reason for offering a bounty. 'This is a guy who is giving international media interviews regularly. I don't think the issue is being able to find him,' Johnston said, adding that the indictment doesn't represent a threat to Chérizier since he lives in Haiti. 'It's hard to see how it'll have much of an effect.' A policeman turned gang leader Chérizier is a former elite police officer who was fired in December 2018 and was later accused of organizing large-scale massacres in the slums of Grand Ravine in 2017, in La Saline in 2018 and in Bel-Air in 2019. More than 100 people were killed in the massacres, which Chérizier has denied organizing. 'Haiti is a hotspot right now … there is incredible violence going on there,' U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday, calling La Saline killings 'notorious because (Chérizier) both planned and participated' in the slaughter. In June 2020, Chérizier created the ' G9 Family and Allies,' an alliance that grew from nine gangs in lower Delmas and the Cite Soleil and La Saline slums to include more than a dozen gangs, according to a U.N. Security Council report. The alliance was blamed for the killings of some 145 people in Cite Soleil and the rape of multiple women. In December 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department issued civil sanctions against Chérizier and others accused of being involved in the massacres. The G-9 alliance later became part of the Viv Ansanm gang federation created in September 2023 that saw the merging of Haiti's two biggest gangs that were once bitter enemies: G-9 and G- Pèp. Since then, the federation has taken control of 90% of Port-au-Prince. It launched multiple attacks on key government infrastructure in February 2024 and raided Haiti's two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. It also forced Haiti's main international airport to close for nearly three months. The surge in violence led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was locked out of his country while on an official visit to Kenya. The gang federation continues to attack once peaceful communities in Port-au-Prince, and it is accused of helping gangs in Haiti's central region. 'We want to change everything' Also indicted is Bazile Richardson, whom officials say is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who grew up with Chérizier and lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Both are accused of leading a 'wide-ranging conspiracy' by directly soliciting money transfers from members of the Haitian diaspora to raise funds for Chérizier's gang activities in Haiti, according to the indictment. It stated that the money was used to pay the salaries of gang members and buy weapons from illegal dealers in Haiti. Most of the firearms are smuggled in from the U.S. since Haiti does not produce weapons. According to the indictment, there are two other unnamed co-conspirators from Haiti who live in New York and Massachusetts, and five others who live in Haiti. Chérizier could not be immediately reached for comment. It was not immediately clear if Richardson had an attorney. The indictment noted that Chérizier and Richardson have acknowledged the sanctions against Chérizier, adding that the alleged conspiracy began around December 2020 and continued through January of this year. One voice memo that an unidentified co-conspirator in Haiti allegedly sent to Richardson stated: 'If I have backup, we will take the power, and you will be able to come back to your country. You will need to serve in the new government.' Richardson forwarded the alleged memo to Chérizier in June 2022, nearly a year after former President Jovenel Moïse was killed at his private residence. Another person identified only as a Haitian co-conspirator allegedly sent a voice memo to Richardson saying, 'we want to start a revolution in Haiti and are trying to collect funds.' Part of the plan was to have 1,000 individuals give $20 each or 1 million Haitians abroad give $1 each, as well as collect money from 1,000 people for each of Haiti's 10 regions, according to the indictment. 'With this money, they can buy pick-up trucks, weapons, ammunition, clothing to include T-shirts, boots and hats. We want to change everything in Haiti,' according to one alleged voice memo. In June 2021, Chérizier held a press conference announcing the start of a revolution. A crackdown on violence The indictment comes as gang violence continues to surge in Haiti's capital and beyond, with gunmen kidnapping an Irish missionary and seven other people, including a 3-year-old, from an orphanage earlier this month. The office of Haiti's prime minister did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the indictment. Johnston said the broader strategy in the fight against gangs remains unclear. 'It does seem like there's sort of an escalatory framework happening both in Haiti and the U.S.,' he said. 'Where does that actually go?' Darren Cox, acting assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, said the bureau's Miami office is leading the effort to apprehend Chérizier. 'The FBI is focused more than ever on crushing violent crime,' Cox said. 'There is no safe haven for them, or the people like them.' ___ Khalil reported from Washington, D.C.
Washington Post
17 hours ago
- Washington Post
U.S. charges Haiti gang leader ‘Barbecue' with evading sanctions
A federal grand jury has indicted Jimmy 'Barbecue' Chérizier, the leader of a powerful coalition of gangs that has paralyzed and terrorized Haiti, on charges of conspiring with people in the United States and Haiti to evade U.S. sanctions, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Tuesday. The State Department, meanwhile, is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to Chérizier's arrest or conviction. The self-styled revolutionary is believed to be in Port-au-Prince. Chérizier, who posts frequently to social media and has given interviews to The Washington Post and other international news outlets, is perhaps the most notorious of Haiti's warlords. A former officer with the Haitian National Police, he has been accused of perpetrating some of the country's worst massacres, including a 2018 attack in the La Saline neighborhood of Port-au-Prince that left at least 70 people dead. Chérizier, 48, has for years led the G9 Family and Allies, a gang known for killings, mass kidnappings, sexual violence and extortion. In 2023, he united the G9 with enemy gangs to form Viv Anasnm, a coalition that has launched waves of coordinated attacks against government buildings, prisons and critical infrastructure in a campaign to topple Haiti's transitional government. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Chérizier in 2020. The State Department this year designated Viv Ansanm and Haiti's Gran Grif gang foreign terrorist organizations, saying that their 'ultimate goal is creating a gang-controlled state where illicit trafficking and other criminal activities operate freely and terrorize Haitian citizens.' Also indicted is Bazile Richardson, 48, a naturalized U.S. citizen, on charges of leading a conspiracy to transfer funds from the United States to Chérizier to fund his gang activities in Haiti in violation of the sanctions. Richardson was arrested on July 23 in Pasadena, Texas, and was expected to make his initial court appearance today in the District of Columbia. Gangs have long had a presence in Haiti, but their influence has grown since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the subsequent collapse of the rule of law. The groups, armed mostly with weapons smuggled in from the United States, control 90 percent of the capital, according to U.N. estimates, and are pushing into the countryside. In the year since an international police force deployed in the country, the gangs' footprint has grown. U.S. authorities in recent years have charged several Haitian gang leaders with hostage taking and other crimes and offered millions of dollars for information leading to their capture. But Haiti's foremost gang leaders remain at large in the country, even as authorities there use armed drones to target their strongholds. Jeremy Roebuck in Washington contributed to this report.
CBS News
17 hours ago
- CBS News
Video shows exact moment water slide ruptured on Royal Caribbean ship, one guest injured
Video shot by a passenger on Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas shows the exact moment an acrylic glass panel broke on a water slide while a guest was inside. The video shows a man heading down the slide when the glass shatters, sending shards to the deck as water gushes out of the gaping hole. In a statement, Royal Caribbean confirmed that an adult guest was injured when the acrylic glass broke off in the slide while the guest was inside. "Our team provided medical care to an adult guest when acrylic glass broke off a water slide as the guest passed through the slide," a spokesperson said. It does not appear that anyone below the slide was hurt by the falling glass. The water slide remained closed for the rest of the sailing. Just two weeks before the water slide incident, Icon of the Seas was the site of a deadly altercation involving two crew members, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. On July 24, a 35-year-old South African crew member allegedly stabbed a 28-year-old South African woman multiple times aboard the ship while it was off the coast of San Salvador Island in the Bahamas. The man then fled and jumped overboard. He was later found dead by onboard medical staff. The woman suffered stab wounds to her upper body and was reported to be in stable condition, police said. A Royal Caribbean spokesperson described the incident as "a personal dispute" and said the woman was treated by the ship's medical team. The cruise line did not released the names of those involved. An autopsy was pending to determine the man's exact cause of death.
