Police are working to identify any other potential victims following the arrest of a Massachusetts man alleged to have had sexual contact with at least two young Cranston girls.
Raphael Almeida …
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Police are working to identify any other potential victims following the arrest of a Massachusetts man alleged to have had sexual contact with at least two young Cranston girls.
Raphael Almeida Caldeira, 23, of 97 North Ave. in Abington, Mass., was due to be arraigned in Third District Court in Warwick earlier this week after being extradited from Massachusetts, where he had been arrested as a fugitive from justice on a Cranston warrant.
He is charged with second-degree child molestation, second-degree sexual assault, two counts of electronically disseminating indecent material to minors and four counts of enticement of a child.
According to a release from Chief of Police Col. Michael Winquist, a parent of a 13-year-old girl contacted Cranston police on Feb. 5 after her daughter told her she had sexual contact with a man she and her friends met through the dating website MeetMe.com.
“Members of the Cranston Police Department Special Victims Unit immediately launched an investigation, which led to the identification of a second 15-year-old victim who also reported being [sexually] assaulted by the same individual,” Winquist’s release states.
The release indicates the two girls began communicating with the suspect through the website in late January, and “progressed to text messages and phone calls to include the victim sending explicit photographs of his genitalia.” That contact occurred “despite the victims revealing their true ages to the suspect.”
According to the chief’s release, Caldeira traveled to Cranston from Massachusetts on three occasions to meet with the two girls, and at those times is alleged to have sexually assaulted them in his vehicle.
“The investigation is ongoing, as the Cranston Police Department are working with the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Massachusetts Authorities to identify any other potential victims,” Winquist’s release states. “If you have any further information concerning this suspect, please contact the Cranston Police Department Special Victims Unit at (401) 942-2211.”
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