A Massachusetts man who is accused of bringing a woman from a group home in that state to a family camp in Maine and then raping her in May has been indicted by a Cumberland County grand jury on 54 felony charges ranging from gross sexual assault to possession of sexually explicit material.
William Duffy, 58, of Attleboro, was arrested May 3 and initially charged by the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office with two counts of gross sexual assault. He was also charged at the time of his arrest with two counts of unlawful sexual contact because the woman did not have the mental capacity to consent to sex. He is currently free on bail pending an appearance in state court.
The Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office presented the case against Duffy to a grand jury this week and obtained indictments on those initial charges and two other counts of gross sexual assault and 48 counts of possession of sexually explicit material, the office announced Thursday.
Duffy allegedly had an online chat with the 31-year-old woman over three weeks on a website for abused women. The woman complained of being abused and denied medication at her group home in Carver, Massachusetts.
Duffy offered to help her escape, the sheriff’s office said. She sneaked out and the pair drove to a camp in Sebago owned by Duffy’s parents.
Police said Duffy then had sex with the woman, who told an investigator she did not feel she could say no.
Police said the alleged victim appeared to have the intellectual capacity of a 9-year-old. Still, she was able to surreptitiously call police on a cellphone and hide the phone under her pillow as she and Duffy were having sex.
Cumberland County sheriff’s deputies working with the Regional Communications Center in Gray traced the call to Northwest River Road in Sebago where they found Duffy and the woman.
Deputies executing a search warrant discovered a backpack containing sexual devices and other items, including heavy-duty plastic zip ties, a “pet safe” shock collar, two rolls of duct tape and two 100-foot lengths of rope.
During the encounter, Duffy threatened the woman and said if she did not have sex with him he would tie her up and have sex with her anyway, the sheriff’s office said. Duffy also told her he was taking her to Rhode Island, which is where she thought she was, the sheriff’s office said.
Police say other items they found have led them to investigate whether Duffy molested any other victims, including children.
Police found a plastic bag from the store Amazing Intimacies that contained, among other things, a “Hello Kitty” child’s nightgown and a pair of multicolored panties that had been worn.
Each of the gross sexual assault charges and the unlawful sexual contact charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Each of the charges of possession of sexually explicit materials are punishable by up to five years in prison.
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