Man Gets Life for Raping Child in a Library
A Massachusetts man was sentenced April 2 to life in prison for the 2008 rape of a 6-year-old boy in the magazine room of the New Bedford Public Library, according to the April 3 New Bedford Standard-Times.
Corey Deen Saunders, 27, who was on probation for a 2000 assault at the time of the 2008 incident, pleaded guilty in February to several charges of rape and threatening to commit a crime. A victim of childhood abuse himself, Saunders had told the 6-year-old that he would come to the child’s house the day after the library attack and assault him again, court records stated.
As a result of the attack, library trustees have modified NBPL’s patron behavior policy to prohibit adults from speaking to a minor inside the library “unless the adult is a parent, other close relative, or caregiver of the minor.” Officials also reconfigured the room in which the assault took place to maximize unobstructed sight lines. During the time of the attack, the boy’s mother was sitting at a computer terminal some 20 feet away from her child, who was apparently intimidated into keeping silent.
Posted on April 3, 2009; modified April 8, 2009. Discuss.