Former Rehoboth man gets up to 25 years in prison for raping, videotaping infant
FALL RIVER — A former Rehoboth man has been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison for raping an infant and videotaping portions of the attack, the Bristol County district attorney’s office said Friday.
Cody Mercure, 25, pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court this past week to rape of a child aggravated by age difference, indecent assault and battery and possession of child pornography, according to Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
Mercure, who most recently lived in Woonsocket, was at a friend’s house in Taunton where he sexually assaulted and videotaped the 1-year-old child, who was known to him, in a bathroom on February 19, 2021, according to Miliote and court records.
The investigation began after a cyber tip to Rhode Island State Police. The Bristol County district attorney’s special victims unit then took the lead on the case and eventually made the arrest in April 2021, Miliote said.
Mercure, a 2016 graduate of Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School and former North Dighton resident, is also serving a concurrent 15- to 25-year prison sentence on federal charges for the creation of child sexual exploitation and dissemination of child pornography.
He has been held without bail since his arrest and was sentenced in April on the federal case, but has filed an appeal, according to court records.
His lawyer in the federal case said Mercure was sexually abused as a child, has mental health issues and had only minor brushes with the law as a juvenile, according to court records.
When Mercure is released from prison he will be on probation for 20 years.
“The conduct of the defendant is despicable and difficult to comprehend. He clearly has a demented mind and these sentences will keep him off of the street for a lengthy period of time, which is clearly necessary to protect children,” Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn II said in a statement.
Judge Raffi Yessayan rejected the defense’s recommendation for a 10-year sentence and imposed the 20- to 25-year term recommended by Assistant District Attorney Casey Smith based on the heinous nature of the crime, Miliote said.
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/former-rehoboth-man-gets-up-to-25-years-in-prison-for-raping-videotaping-infant/article_5c3c2f07-92c8-5dd4-a381-86f8f32a0a21.html